The Ninth Life
by Timballisto
Summary: The many reincarnations of Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. AU/Plotbunnies. Mostly Sakura and Naruto-centric. New Chapter: ER: I
1. Ground Zer0: Instruction Manual

Dear Readers,

I've recieved some misunderstandings about how to read my newer series _The Nineth Life _and how each new chapter can be read in sequence. Never fear, I, Timballisto, shall guide you through the treacherous journey the navigates my thought processes. Yeah, I think I'm crazy too.

Anyway, you'll notice in the upper right corner of your screen a chapter bar. Each chapter has a Chapter number (1), a title (2) and a sequence number (3), like so:

Chapter One (1): Samurai (2): 1 (3)

The Chapter number is relatively nonimportant; it has no correlation to the order in which a complete story is to be read. Now, the title are more important. Every chapter with the same title is from the same universe. The number found after the title is the sequence number, the chronological order in which that particular title progresses. None of the chapters from the same universe will every be next to each other (probably, my muse'll get back to you on that) so you may need to be checking back on earlier chapters in case you forget the earlier parts of the plot as you skip from universe to universe, plot bunny to plot bunny.

Enjoy.

Also, I am accepting plot ideas and will feature the reviewer who gave me the idea in one of my chapters...somehow. Whether by a bystander character or just by shoutout who knows, but you'll definitely know it's you.

Won't that just be lovely?

Sincerely,

Timballisto

((P.S. Flamers, beware. I'm not above publically ridiculing you with a rant about the idiodicy of today's internet population and their general ignorance. Don't tempt me.))


	2. Chapter 1: Samurai: I

Bushido. The Way of the Warrior. The guidelines that expected samurai to live, fight, and die for their lords. The strict code that held honor above life, above petty arguments and treachery.

Sarutobi had never hated something so fiercely.

The blonde boy in front of him, his hair cut below his ears, his cool blue eyes sharp in the unfamiliar surroundings that the office of the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato afforded him, searching, ready for attack. Dressed in a plain black hakama of good quality that flowed down to the tabi that covered his feet, Sarutobi guessed he must be a retainer of some quality to the daimyo. His obi was crimson, emblazoned with the symbol of fire, holding the two swords of the samurai. His swords in particular seemed rather plain, with a black and white patterned hilt on his katana, and an inverse pattern of white and black on his short dagger, his wakizashi.

From the way he held himself, even though he was merely twelve, Sarutobi could guess at the extreme discipline that supported his mind, the intenseness of which he would apply himself, and that included Bushido.

Bushido. Sarutobi nearly spit on the ground at the word. He hated the code, _hated_ it. It forced innocent men who perhaps had a slip of the tongue when intoxicated, to commit suicide for honor.

Honor had no place among shinobi.

Sarutobi felt himself regretting handing the boy over to the daimyos clutches, but what could he have done? Refusing would have been treason, and it would have resulted in full scale civil war. With Iwagakure lurking like a hungry vulture just over the horizon, engaging in a civil war would have meant absolute destruction.

Now here they stood twelve years later, old man and young boy, ninja and samurai, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Uzumaki Naruto.

"Uzumaki-san," Sarutobi began, flinching at the formal title that came from his lips. How long ago was it that he would call the little giggling blonde baby Naruto-kun? "I believe you bring a message from the daimyo?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Naruto said in a bland, controlled voice as he slipped a sealed letter from the inside of his hakama, carefully handing it to the aged shinobi.

Sarutobi raised his eyebrows at the embossed seal on the letter. Why would the daimyo use his personal seal, not the seal of Hi no Kuni if it was to the Hokage?

_Hiruzen-san, (_Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at the semi-formal use of his first name.)

_Before you is Uzumaki Naruto, perhaps you remember him from when he was a child? No? Well, perhaps a glance at your left would remind you. _(Sarutobi quickly looked at the stern picture of the Yondaime and felt sick. He hadn't needed reminding, but he now knew what the daimyo was getting at.) _Uzumaki-kun is one of my junior retainers, despite his unique advantages. However, his loyalty is absolute and a tighter lipped individual couldn't be found anywhere. _(What is he playing at? Sarutobi thought as he read the letter, his eyes so narrowed as to be slits) _I wish for Uzumaki to be trained in the ninja arts to the level of chuunin before reentering my service. He has sworn fealty to you, to obey you as if you were the daimyo of Hi no Kuni. This is not a request from your liege lord, Hiruzen. This is a plea from your childhood friend Tobijimaru._

_In the name of Hi no Kuni,_

_**Muramasu Tobijimaru**_

_Daimyo of Hi no Kuni. _

Sarutobi sighed and sat back, frowning at the stoic, whiskered face of Naruto. This was going to throw a wrench into the works alright. A samurai trained as a shinobi? Unheard of.

Of course, he couldn't exactly say no, now could he? The daimyo practically funded this village, and the missions that came from other countries wouldn't even begin to pay for the massive income needed to pay for such a village.

Sarutobi fixed Naruto in his vision, boring into the familiar cerulean eyes of a man who had died over a decade ago, before snapping back to the present.

"Uzumaki-san." Sarutobi said, fading into what he liked to call his 'Hokage voice' that commanded total obedience from his soldiers. "Daimyo-sama has asked me to have you trained in the shinobi arts until you achieve the rank of chuunin."

Naruto nodded slightly, his eyes keen.

"Before I do so, I need your solemn promise on your honor, your Bushido, that you will obey me and your superior officers without question." Sarutobi was not going to have a samurai genin run around uncontrolled.

"I swear," Naruto's voice was warm, but soft and controlled. "on my bushido and my sword Jato, that I will obey the words of the Hokage and my superior officers, even at the cost of my life, save any orders of the daimyo that supersede those orders."

Saruto frowned but accepted those terms. He himself was sword to serve Hi no Kuni and the daimyo so he could not exactly complain. "Uzumaki-san, have you been trained in the basic ninja arts?"

Naruto nodded. "I know the basic justu and chakra control exercises." Naruto placed his hand on his katana hilt. "Plus a few jutsu that involve infusing chakra into my katana."

The Hokage nodded, before drawing up a piece of paper and quickly jotting down a note to Iruka, the current graduating class sensei.

"Hebi-san." Sarutobi called out into the air, and in a second, a snake masked ANBU was kneeling on the floor. "Please deliver this to Umino Iruka, I believe the Acadamy should have let out already."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The distinctly female voice affirmed before blurring out of sight with a quick shunshin.

Sarutobi turned to the unruffled figure of Naruto, noting with interest that Naruto had naturally reached for his weapon when the ANBU had appreared.

"Now Uzumaki-san," Sarutobi said, his fingers intertwined on his desk. "To the problem of your place of residence…"

And the first ever samurai to become a ninja was born.


	3. Chapter 2: Mononoke: I

Sakura Haruno gasped as she struggled onward, her shaking legs on the verge of collapse as she staggered against the trunk of an ancient oak, a bloody smear left on the smooth bark for its trouble

Blood leaked sluggishly from the stab wounds in her back and side, healed enough to allow movement but still not enough to shake her pursuers. Even the Kevlar of her ANBU armor hadn't stopped the missing-ninja's tanto from entering her side before she had turned his head into cranberry juice.

Sakura let out another shuddering breath as she adjusted her lion ANBU mask, her pink hair spewing back from the painted face like a real lion's mane, short, pink, and wild.

"God dammit," Sakura muttered as she felt the annoying pinpricks of the two chakra signatures on her senses, coming in due north. "I barely have enough chakra for a henge." Still, she'd die on her feet with a kunai in her hand before she would be stabbed in the back while fleeing.

Then the two signatures were on her and she didn't have any more time to talk to herself.

"Thought you'd get away huh, kunoichi?" One of the Oto shinobi sneered; tasting the term as if it were a vile swear word. "Kabuto-sama has been displeased with your constant meddling ANBU-san."

"Well, maybe the fact that I just killed twnety of the Chuunin you sent to apprehend me irked him a little." Sakura rasped, her usual calm, sweet voice roughened by a night of dehydration and disuse. "Considering you only caught to me because of 20 to 1 odds isn't something to be proud of."

The other ninja, a kunoichi, stepped forward, the pale moonlight illuminating her Oto headband and jounin vest. Unlike her companion, a blustery Chuunin, she was lithe and silent. A water re-breather covered the bottom of her face, attaching to her Oto headgear headband.

Sakura's heart sank. She could take the boatful one, even as she was now, but the jounin… she could kill her, but she'd probably die in the process. She had lived a good life, she supposed. However, dying at age nineteen was not something she was looking forward to.

Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep breath… before swinging her foot around and pulverizing the skull of the Oto Chuunin who had tried to unsuccessfully sneak up on her, instantly killing him.

Shaking her foot to get some of the blood off of her heel, Sakura stepped away from the tree, facing her jounin opponent head on, feeling the heaviness set in her bones again as the adrenaline faded from her system.

"I hope you weren't attached to him." Sakura muttered; her eyes were lidded as she stared through the holes of her mask.

The jounin shifted slightly, and Sakura could see her opponent's eyes darting to the bloody corpse of her companion. "Not… particularly."

"Good." Sakura whispered, before twisting her body and allowing a barrage of kunai to pass her by. Absently, Sakura threw a shuriken at the mizu bunshin she'd been talking to the entire time, dispelling it, before fully engaging her opponent.

The Oto-nin was good, but Sakura could tell that her strengths did not lie in taijutsu. Darting forward with flagging strength, she managed to get under her enemies guard and land a punishing blow to her abdomen. Blood and saliva spurted out of the Oto kunoichi's mouth, landing on Sakura's mask.

"T-tag." Sakura said weakly, her legs crumpling as she slumped to the ground against a tree, blood coloring the grass a bright scarlet.

The Oto-kunoichi got to her feet fast enough, cradling bruised abdominals and displaced ribs, attempting to get her wind back.

"Y-you…" the kunoichi snarled, bringing her hands up into hand signs. "I'll roast you alive!"

Sakura's eyes widened as she glimpsed the last hand sign of the lengthy sequence. Tora, the signature of a fire jutsu. Shit.

She didn't want to die.

"Katon: Kayruu Endan!"

Gathering her flagging strength, Sakura lurched to the side, the scorching heat of the dragon of flame licking her side as it roared past. The woodland behind her was incinerated, the flames instantly turning even the most resilient of trees to black ash. And, to Sakura's horror, beyond the destruction, a Shinto shrine merrily burned, its red painted arch peeling as fire licked at the offerings housed within. With another pang of fear, Sakura realized exactly what type of shrine it was.

"Baka," Sakura snarled, stifling the urge to cough at the smoke. "You just destroyed a demon's shrine."

The Oto-kunoichi sneered, her disdain of Sakura's superstitions clear on her face. Admittedly, most shinobi weren't as cautious about that sort of this as Konoha shinobi, but who could blame them? Every demon, regardless of type, went out of their way to make Konoha shinobi life difficult. No doubt in revenge for sealing away the greatest of them into a jinchuuriki who had disappeared off of the face of the earth a few years after birth.

The rasp of a kunai sliding out of its holster brought Sakura's drifting mind back to reality. Her blood ran cold as she realized that this might be the end for her.

Reflected in the cold steel of the kunai, she could see her younger days as Team Seven's only kunoichi, along with her traitorous crush Sasuke Uchiha and her socially awkward companion Sai. She remembered the sunny days of Konoha before she was a Jounin or an ANBU and she was simply Sakura, the Godaime's Apprentice and her time was spent saving lives instead of taking them….

Sakura's breath gurgled slightly in her throat as her burns and her stab wound caught up with her. Her vision darkened as she couldn't get enough air to feed her oxygen starved brain.

'No…' Sakura thought, her Inner Sakura screaming as her vision tunneled to the lone kunai in the Oto-shinobi's hand. 'Not, not like this…'

"I-I won't die." Sakura gasped, clasping at a senbon tucked into the lining of her kunai holster. "Not without taking you with me."

With the strength that only comes from the Shinigami, Sakura was up on one knee, arm extended. Her poisoned senbon whizzed through the air, only a small glint of metal visible as it sped toward her opponent's eye.

To her dismay, the Oto-nin merely plucked it out of the air, looking at it briefly before tucking it into her own kunai holster. "Nice try."

"Heh." Sakura let out a strangled laugh, blood welling up over her lips and spilling down her chin as her internal wounds intensified. She slumped sideways, her pink hair damp from the blood and dewy grass. "I… was too slow." As her life-blood gently flowed out of her onto the grass, her eyes slowly emptied, until only a glimmer of life remained. "…again."

The world grew hazy as she focused on the smug face of her opponent. Her eyes blurred, and flashes of color flooded across her vision. Why could she feel air on her face? Who had taken her mask off of her? Were those blue eyes that simmered in anger and…concern? Sakura watched, fascinated, as they slowly morphed to red, fangs and malice, a flash of yellow as they turned away. A low growl reached her ears, and she felt something wet splash her pale face. Rust filled her nose as she struggled with shallow breaths. Blood.

The blue eyes returned again, and this time she caught sight of shoulder length, wild blond hair and savage, black scars that were scored across his face.

_Demon…_

Then her vision tunneled and she knew no more.


	4. Chapter 3: Uzumaki no Shukaku: I

AU: What if Kyubi and the Ichibi switched tail numbers and the nine-tailed racoon attacked Konoha and was sealed in Naruto (sand powers!) and the one tailed kitsune was sealed in Gaara?

Edited: 12/20/10

* * *

Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, set his face in a grim mask of stone as he stood on top of his Boss summon, Gamabunta's head. Behind him, the great, sheer walls of Konohagakure reflected the setting sun, the roar of the wind whistling over the reinforced chakra stone. Before him, where more than a hundred acres of ancient trees once stood proud and tall, a foreign wasteland of sand sat, dominated by the demonic apparition that roared in delight as it obliterated the Konoha Ninja Corps with apparent ease, the sands it controlled crushing soldiers and staining the sand a deep crimson.

Minato's hand clenched, his knuckles turning white. Kyubi no Shukaku, the Nine-tailed Racoon was here and thirsting for blood.

If the creature got to the village, there would be no mercy.

Gritting his teeth, Minato took a deep breath, steadying himself. Kushina would hate him for what he was about to do, but with the choice between Konoha and his son, Naruto, what could he do?

"Hokage-sama, the infant is ready in the sealing room." Minato nodded, before turning to the still form of the messenger Inu, his pupil and ANBU commander.

"Call a retreat, Kaka-kun." Minato said, calling Kakashi by the nickname he hated. "I will finish this."

Minato pulled the stiff boy into a rough hug, relishing the physical contact before his inevitable death.

"Sensei-" Kakashi was filled with a rising sense of foreboding. His father had been overly affectionate before he had dragged a dagger across his belly, and the flashback sent a tremor of anguish through his soul. Pushing his doubts aside, he hesitantly returned the show of paternal affection from his sensei.

"Go." Minato said, his voice level, gently nudging Kakashi towards the edge of Gamabunta's head.

Kakashi's head jerked once in a parody of a nod, before slipping on his ANBU captain persona and blurring out of existence.

"Sweet," Gamabunta snorted, his webbed hands tight on his dagger. "A little pupil-student bonding before the big finish, hmmm?"

"Shut up 'Bunta." Minato grunted, watching the ant-like ninja scurry by the huge shadow that Gamabunta cast on the ground.

"BLOOD!" The roar of Shukaku echoed across the empty expanse of faux desert it had created, currents of insanity threading through the shrill tones. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING? I'M NOT DONE BATHING MY SAND IN YOUR BLOOD YET!" Shukaku cackled madly, exposing incisors made of hardened, chakra reinforced sand. Blue veins shot through the tightly packed sand of Shukaku's massive bulk, gold eyes peered out from beneath heavy brows. Those same eyes narrowed when they caught sight of the red form of Gamabunta, its nine tails twitching madly.

"HMMM…WHAT'S THIS? MORE ANTS OUT TO PLAY? NO…PERHAPS A LITTLE FROGGY?" Shukaku's high pitched laughter grated on Minato's ears, causing him to grit his teeth against the screeching tones.

"Little Froggy-chan want to play?" Shukaku's voice seemed to collapse in on its self, like he wasn't even aware of Gamabunta's considerable prescence. "Oh yes, what to do, what games to play with the ants…and now the Froggy-chan can play too, yes, yes." Shukaku straightened up to his full height, it's eyes gleaming with a insane light.

"Catch Froggy-chan! RENKUDAN!" The sand demon sucked in air, chakra pooling in his stomach, and pounded it with a thick arm, blasting air at his 'Little Froggy-chan'.

"Incoming!" Minato shouted, bracing himself as Gamabunta jumped over the incoming ball of swirling air, and, in that single bound, managed to launch himself into Shukaku, knocking the sand beast down. Quickly bringing his full weight to bear, Gamabunta plunged his dagger through Shukaku's shoulder, pinning the demon to the earth.

"You've got….thirty seconds kid, make it good." Gamabunta panted, struggling to keep the thrashing Shukaku from escaping.

"Got it!" Minato said, focusing on the hand seals he had memorized for this particular jutsu, all three hundred sixty-three of them. His hands were a blur as he performed the technique, sweat beading his brow. If he didn't form all of the seals exactly right, he might accidently summon something worse than the Shinigami, or even rip the fabric of time apart.

Then with a cry of despair and triumph, Minato smashed his hand into Gamabunta's head, black kanji spreading out in ornate patterns from the point of impact.

"Shiki Fuuin!"Minato caught his breath, a cold chill entering his chest and curling around his heart. Above him, surveying the struggle with a detached, calloused air, the Shinigami, a ghostly apparition sat. The god reached forward with a clawed hand, and plunged in through Minato's chest.

It felt like he was freezing, it felt like he was burning…out of the corner of his eye he saw the arm plunge into the sand body of Shukaku, he saw the demons body disintegrate into a pile of sand…then he felt nothing at all.

Far away, deep in the high security vaults of the Hokage tower, a young baby began to weep as the seal was burned onto his abdomen and his fate sealed.

Inside the trap which Shukaku had been shut in, the beast chuckled, then began cackling, and finally broke down into hysterical laughter that echoed in the undeveloped mindscape of Naruto Namikaze Uzumaki.

Gold eyes gleamed in the darkness, a toothy smile hidden in the dark. The problem with sand, Shukaku concluded, was that, given enough time, sand can wear down even the hardest of materials, and can worm it's way out of any containment.

Even out of a Shiki Fuuin seal.


	5. Chapter 4: Mononoke: II

A continuation of Mononoke 1

Enjoy!

* * *

It didn't take very long for Haruno Sakura to acknowledge the fact she was alive. The pain was enough of reminder to that. That and she could feel her chakra weakly pulsing along with her heartbeat.

"C'mon, work…work…" someone mumbled above her.

Sakura desperately wanted to open her eyes, but she couldn't. Her eyelids were too heavy. Her body was too tired. She was in too much pain.

Her mind was all over the place and her mind could hardly string her thoughts together. It was understandable. She shouldn't even be alive, let alone awake. Conscious.

She could feel a tingling warmth on her wounds, and she could feel the radiating heat from whatever was…healing her?

Sakura's brow furrowed as she coaxed her healing chakra along her pathways, down her side until it pooled around the independent energy coating her wounds. With a mental hiss, she flinched back as her chakra was burned away by the healing chakra. Tensed, Sakura inspected her chakra pathways, frowning at the small, insignificant burns that peppered her tenketsu.

It didn't seem malicious, just…caustic. Curious, Sakura blindly groped down her side toward the stab wound in her stomach…

"I wouldn't do that."

"Wha-!" Sakura started, half into a sitting position before she registered the debilitating waves of pain that radiated from her back and side.

"Whoa!" A pair of strong arms wrapped around her shoulders, gently resting her shoulders back on the fluffy pillows that propped her up into a less painful position. "You just woke up, you shouldn't be moving around like that."

Blond, was the first thing that came to mind. Sakura blinked as she took in the vivid color of the young man's blond hair, falling in a bright mane down to the top of his shoulders. Two distinct locks of hair fell in front of his ears, framing a tanned face. By his features, she wouldn't guess him to be any older than her, barely nineteen years in age.

If not for his hair and lack of red clan tattoos, Sakura would guess he was an Inuzuka. His canines were elongated, gathering into points that looked wickedly sharp. Six dark scars posed as whiskers on his face, and his eyes, though blue, were slit like a wild animal.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, shifting in the comfortable bed. After all, she had to be ready to react if he was an enemy.

"Naruto Uzumaki." He said, flashing his canine teeth in a grin. "What's yours?"

"Sakura Haruno." Sakura replied easily, subtly checking for any sign of allegiance in the Spartan room, bare of anything except her futon.

"Ah, I've heard of you!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, seemingly unaware of the sudden tensing of Sakura's shoulders. "You're that medic-nin! The one who studied under Obaa-chan!"

Sakura twitched a tick working above her eyebrow. "O…baa-chan…?" Gritting her teeth, Sakura forced her reflexive punch instinct down, reminding herself that Naruto was a stranger, and not an annoying teammate who deserved a super powered punch to the noggin.

"I've seen her! The saggy one, right?"

"BAKA!" Sakura yelled, spinning in her seat and lodging a punch into the blonds' skull, sending him catapulting through the paper thin walls into the next room over. "Treat Tsunade-shishou with some respect!"

Even as she finished her scolding, Sakura knew that was a bad idea. Her body was ripped through by another wave of pain that almost made her bite through her tongue.

Immediately , the Naruto was at her side, all signs of her punch invisible on his face.

"Open your mouth." He commanded, noticing the trace of blood from her bit tongue on her lips. At her hesitance, he grabbed her chin with calloused, worn hands and pried open her mouth, ignoring her struggles. "I don't want you to choke."

With a simple brush of a finger, Sakura could literally feel the teeth marks on her tongue disappear, leaving only the bloody residue in her mouth.

"What happened to the Oto-nin?" Sakura asked weakly, whatever technique Naruto did had sapped some of her already low energy.

Naruto's eyes narrowed and she swore they flashed red for a second. "She won't be bothering anyone anymore. That shrine was particularly important to me."

Sakura blinked, confused by his anger over the overgrown, untended shrine. "We're you the priest in charge of it?" Though, looking at his current clothing; a loose black hakama with a red haori pooling around his seated form, she doubted it.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise for a second, confused, before he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and grinned. "Nah," he said, chuckling. "My father met my mother there." He said, a slight blush dusting his cheeks.

Sakura winced as Inner Sakura let out a fangirly screech. _So kawaiiiii!_

"Also, the shrine marked the edge of my territory." At this point, Sakura definitely noticed the feral attributes of her host as his eyes flashed red and he bared his teeth. "I was patrolling my borders when I noticed you both trespassing."

Sakura blinked and nodded, settling back on her pillows. And even in her sleepy, pain filled mind, she noticed something out of place.

"Wait, _your_ land?" she demanded. "There are no reports of any feudal lords of any sort in this area! In fact, this has been the quietest part of the Konoha-Sound border since the war started!"

Naruto smirked, as if he were enjoying his own private joke. "This isn't a state recognized officially by the daimyos of the elemental countries," Naruto stood and went to the door, and looked over his shoulder. "If you asked any of those fat lords who like to lounge around in their fancy palaces, they wouldn't know my name. But hey," he shrugged. "I'm not a feudal lord."

"Than what are you?"

This time Sakura actually gasped as she witnessed Naruto's iris change to a bloody red, his whiskers deepen to a thick black, and his atypical canines lengthened to canine proportions.

"Why, I'm a demon lord of course."


	6. Chapter 5: Bench: I

Minor AU this time but will branch out as time passes...

* * *

"I wanted to ask you something." Sasuke's voice was thoughtful and that alone snapped Sakura out of her fangirl haze.

Sakura blinked and sat straighter on the hard bench, her blush disappearing as she listened.

"What do you think of Naruto?" His eyes were intense as he stared earnestly into hers.

Sakura looked down at her sandals, her hands tightening on her knees.

"I study hard." Sakura's voice sounded like it was on the brink of tears. "You wouldn't know how hard it is to be the only civilian in a group of clan kids. Naruto…he's got the Hokage, at least. My family had to bribe a jounin into endorse me. If I pulled half the stuff he's done, I'd be kicked out in two seconds flat and my family would lose their only foothold to get my little brother into the Academy."

Sakura's head snapped around, fixing Sasuke with a heated glare. "People think I'm a teacher's pet, and bully me; they don't realize that I don't have a clan name to excuse any misbehavior."

"Naruto knows nothing about me." Sakura's hands tightened and her voice came out harsh. "He pleads for me to take me out on a date, or to go out for ramen but-"Sakura's voice shook. "- he doesn't know me. I don't even think he likes me, he just wants to humiliate the civilian girl." Sakura looked down again.

"He's just annoying."

Sasuke sat back, his eyes wavering as Sakura continued- though on a more "Sasuke-kun" oriented avenue.

'_Is that seriously what she thinks?' _Naruto wondered, so shocked that his henge almost wavered. _'That I only want her to come out on a date with me to- what? Stand her up?'_

"-all I want is for you to accept me."

Naruto's eyes widened in panic as Sakura's eyes drifted shut and her head tilted and –

His eyes fluttered shut as their lips met and he just let go. The brief discomfort he'd felt earlier in the day ceased as he gave himself over the fluttering in his stomach and the warm feeling encompassing his heart.

Sakura tensed when her lips met his, expecting the rejection that had made up the majority of her nonexistent courtship with the Uchiha. Instead, his lips pressed earnestly back on hers and she could feel herself shiver and curl her toes in her sandals-

Naruto sighed, so caught up in the euphoria that he let the tight control he had on his chakra loosen-

-she felt the cool lips of the Uchiha morph into something warmer and she gasped as it ignited into something that reverberated down her entire body, cooled somewhat by the rough, calloused hand that reached up to cradle her cheek-

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto muttered, pressing his forehead against her own.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura drew back sharply, her eyes flashing open as she took in the object of her first kiss.

Instead of the cool, unflappable face of her crush she found the flushed face of Naruto Uzumaki, the boy she had just belittled minutes before.

"N-naruto?" she gasped, recoiling in shock.

"H-hello, Sakura-chan?" Naruto said weakly, waving at her.

"_Naruto?_" Sakura scrambled away from him, nearly falling off her bench in her haste to put some distance between herself and the reason for her vibrant red blush.

This- this was _not _how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to kiss Sasuke and run away together and get married and have tons of Uchiha babies.

She was not supposed to kiss Naruto Uzumaki.

And like it.

"I-I," Sakura's eyes darted from Naruto's hopeful face to the ground. "I've gotta go."

"But Sakura-chan-"

She turned her back on him and ran, back through the open gates of Konoha and into the city proper.

* * *

Yay for pubescent romance!


	7. Chapter 6: Conspiracy Theory: I

Kakashi stood rigidly before the seated forms of the council, his gloved hands clasped tightly behind his back as his eye stared down the three old advisors.

"Excuse me?" Kakashi's voice was incredulous.

"You have an S-class mission, Hatake-san." Danzo's voice was gravelly and harsh.

"I have a genin team- I'm exempt-" Kakashi sputtered, only for Kotaru to interrupt, her wrinkled hand raising to silence the jounin.

"Not for this."

A single grey eyebrow rose. The only S-class mission he would be assigned now, so close to Team Seven's first Chuunin Exam, would be an immediate threat to Konoha's security.

"Team Seven is to be disbanded..."

Every hair on the back of Kakashi's neck stood up. The utter tone of finality in Homura's voice sounded more like the toll of a death knell than the order for the dissolution of a genin team.

"…and you will execute Haruno Sakura and Naruto Uzumaki."

Kakashi was so surprised he fell back a step, his grey eye springing wide. "_What?"_

"The Uchiha is a prize, a jewel in the crown of Konoha. He is the key to reconsolidating Konoha's power, the seed through which the Sharingan can grow. A tool- though a fractured and twisted one." Danzo's voice, muffled as it was by bandages and old age, scraped on Kakashi's sensitive ears. "The Haruno girl and the Jinchuuriki are threats- and threats are to be eliminated."

"They are loyal." Kakashi shot back, his fists clenching as he stared at the three decrepit old councilors.

"They are _useless." _Danzo's voice came out as a sibilant hiss. "And they distract the Uchiha. He is the only chance to kill the traitor Itachi. A Sharingan can only defeat the Sharingan."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, his own sharingan eye twitching under his headband. "Then have them reassigned."

"The Uchiha has put himself in near fatal danger for his teammates. You say that he took senbon for the Kyubi container and he intercepted a chuuin aiming to kill the civilian girl Haruno. Each could have ended in his untimely demise and the loss of the the Sharingan to Konoha forever. Such bonds make a ninja _weak._"

Danzo stood, his face twisting into something that could be construed as triumph.

"Sasuke Uchiha is the explosive note needed to destroy Itachi forever, and Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno have dulled his need for vengeance. What better way to turn him against the world forever then to kill his comrades and blame his brother?"


	8. Chapter 7: Hanyou: I

Demon AU! Hanyou!KushinaxMinato

Yay!

* * *

Minato grinned as he flitted through the canopy of Konoha's northern forest, relishing the breeze as it ruffled his blond hair and filled his lungs with crisp, clean morning air.

The 15 year old chuunin was slowly making his way back to Konoha, his solo mission having been completed successfully and without incident. It was a simple C-rank delivery mission to Uzushiogakure and back, with only two days of travel time required.

Yeah, Minato thought as he dropped to the ground near a bubbling stream to refill his canteen. Life was good.

"My, my, _what_ do we have here?"

Minato choked on the water he'd been sipping from his bottle, sputtering as he whirled around to face-

-a naked women?

"Oh my god." Minato yelped, whirling back around in addition to turning bright red and slapping a hand over his widened eyes.

The women chuckled, unbothered by the fact she was completely unclothed. Her eyes, falcon gold, glimmered with a feral edge as she took in the form of the young shinobi who trespassed in her territory.

"I-I'm sorry." Minato stuttered, flustered and off-balance. "Err-I'll just be going now."

"What's the hurry?" Minato felt himself shiver- that was _not _the voice of a furious female. "I don't recall asking you to leave."

A hand, warm to the touch, snaked it's way around his chin, forcing Minato to look deep into a pair of eyes that didn't seem quite human.

"Why go?" the woman's voice dripped like honey, and everything seemed to fade as if he were under water. "Why not stay here with me? I could use a big, strong shinobi like you."

"…like me?" Minato asked, dazed. His eyes were glazed as he stared into the woman's beautiful face.

"Forget about all those pesky missions- all that blood and death. Just stay here with me. Safe."

"Safe." Minato muttered, his eyes fluttering.

In that distance a twig snapped, going off like a gunshot, cutting through Minato's haze.

"No!" the woman snarled, and her beautiful, serene mask splintered.

Minato registered with horror what he'd been too embarrassed or enchanted to see before. Sharp canines, longer than those of the Inuzuka clan protruded from her mouth. Her pupils were slit like an animal and her eyes had sharpened and become more angular. Her pointed ears and the strange green stripes on her cheeks only broadened the obvious differences between herself and a normal human.

"What are you?" Minato demanded, scrabbling to his feet and backing away, brandishing a kunai. He noticed that her nakedness has melted away into a silken kimono. An illusion then.

"Your new mistress little shinobi." The demon spat, pointing a clawed finger at the chuunin. A small pulsating orb, barely the size of a walnut, grew at the pointed of her extended finger.

"**Kitsune-bi!"**

Minato yelped as he dove to the side, the place where the demoness had launched her attack burst into emerald flame.

"What the hell is your problem?" Minato yelled, ducking another projectile as it nearly took off his head.

The demoness didn't answer and merely jumped into the fray herself, her speed easily matching Minato's own chakra augmented moves. Her punches and kicks were like getting socked with a bag of bricks; obviously being a demoness had more perks and hypnotism and the ability to blast supernatural fire at your enemies.

Shit. He was outclassed in speed, firepower, and strength. What would Jiraiya-sensei do at a time like this?

Besides volunteering to get caught and molested by a horny demon?

Oh. Right.

Run.

Whipping out a kunai outfitted with a flash-bomb tag, Minato sent it careening at his opponent hoping his plan would work…

The demoness caught the blade out of the air, smirking. "Foolish boy, you think a mere butter knife could harm me? I'll have to punish you for your insolence when I have you in my claws."

Minato smiled and gave a little salute before turning on his heel and vanishing with a quick shunshin.

A second later, the clearing burst into bright searing light and agonized screams.

* * *

"Curse you!" the demoness spat, rubbing furiously at her eyes. "Kushina! Get out here!"

"Lady Tsuhiko?" A young woman, barely seventeen, stepped out of the trees, striding to the older women's side. Her hair, a fiery read, was a stark contrast against the deep bluish-black of the demoness's own tresses.

"Why did you not bring him down?" the Lady demanded, her light spotted eyes barely slits as she tried to bring the younger girl into focus. "Has your filthy mixed blood clouded your kitsune instincts?"

"My lady, you asked me not to interfere-"

"I know what I said!" Lady Tsuhik sneered. "I'm just wondering if you're indecent fraternization with those human in Uzu- whatever has turned you completely away from your people."

"You don't seem to have a problem taking humans to bed with you behind Father's back." Kushina's voice was low, but the threat was tangible.

"Your father," Lady Tsukiko's voice was contemptuous. "spends his time rolling in the filth of every brothel from her to Yuki no Kuni. How did you think _you_ came about _hanyou_?" The Lady used the word as an expletive, ignoring Kushina's clenched fists and narrowed eyes. "The Lord Kyuubi may be the most powerful demon in the world but he also the world's most terrible mate." The Lady laughed. "So don't try to use your father as a threat you insolent _pup."_

"Now, as for that shinobi…" Lady Tsukiko trailed off, her sore eyes trailing around the clearing, as if she were expecting him to pop back out of the trees. "I want him."

She revealed a claw, encrusted with blood that was not her own, enouch for a kitsune to ge a scent, and fixed her hawk eyes on her step-daughter. "And you're going to bring him back to me."

* * *

Yay! Drama!

I figured it was time to branch out from my NaruSaku rut and move into some more uncharted territory. Now, if your wondering "Hey, I thought Kushina was a ninja and a jinchuuriki and blah blah balh..." Well, it's different.

Kushina's position in Uzushiogakure is to be explained in furthur chapters.

Minato _will _freak out, don't worry it'll be great.

The Kyuubi attack will be explained as well.


	9. Chapter 8: Medic nin: I

This is an AU where Sakura is found by Shizune and Tsunade at an early age instead of after all that business with Sasuke...

Rated high T for mentions of rape.

* * *

There was something to be said for a civilian's ability to kill each other, Shizune decided as she sat on the grassy hill overlooking what used to be the small sleepy town of Obaako Gai.

Now, only charred hulls remained of the once rustic cottages and small winding streets that had been nestled precariously on the cliffs of Fire Countries southern shore. People had been swarming over the place since she had arrived at noon. She had seen the blackened bodies pulled out of thatched roof houses and knew even Tsunade couldn't have helped them.

As Shizune looked out over the still slightly smoking piles of rubble to the sea, blackened and polluted with ash and cinders, she felt a cold pang in her chest.

Her parents had lived here, once.

It was a small community, only richer merchant couples and the crippled shinobi who had especially distinguished themselves in the wars had been given a pension big enough to rent or buy the sought after real estate. Shizune remembered her sheer joy that she had proven good enough to go to Konoha to become a Konohagakure shinobi just like her Uncle Dan…

The war hadn't been kind to this place, but it had been rebuilt the last time the dark haired women had seen it. Shizune supposed the pirates that had been targeting the coasts had struck again.

Still frowning, Shizune made her way down the hill carefully, being sure to avoid the large craters that dotted the landscape, a testament to the pirate's firepower. As she got closer, the stench of burning flesh and the acrid smell of exploding tags became more and more overwhelming and she was sure that only her experience as a medic during the Great Shinobi Wars kept her from throwing up.

Beneath the odor, she could taste the coppery tang of iron. Shizune let out a little cry of relief that her sensei had decided to stay gambling at the last town. The last thing she needed on top of nostalgia was a comatose sensei.

Shizune smiled as she walked through the gates of the burned out town, her eyes sweeping over the blackened red lacquer of the shrine entrance and the crisped offerings that had been left at the gateway. Her eyes narrowed however, when she saw the single untouched, unburned chaff of wheat twined with honeysuckle and sakura flowers. A small tablet of unfired clay was propped up against the offering.

In smooth, yet still a child's hand, the epitaph read;

_In my old home,_

_which I forsook, the cherries_

_Are in bloom_

Shizune recognized it as one of the haikus of Issa, a master of poetry. On the back, scrawled in a much more childish brush, Shizune could make out the gist of the message.

_I wrote what you told me to write in your letter Kaa-chan and I think I know why you love Issa-sama's poems so much. _

Shizune smiled softly, a small shadow of pity crossing her face before she rose to her feet and continued on her search for survivors, keeping her ears attentive for the small taps of a pipe on metal or the sniffles of a pained child. She had barely made it into the ruins of the main street before she was accosted by a…child.

"What are you doin' here?"

Shizune had a senbon in her hand before she fully realized that she was speaking to a little girl. How had she snuck up on her like that…?

"Are you a pirate?" Shizune blinked, taking in the girl's bedraggled appearance. The little waif was as thin as a reed, her elbows and knees knobby from lack of muscle and starvation. Her face was streaked with ash and dirt and her exotic pink hair was ratty from being unwashed for so long.

Shizune found herself wondering what the little girl would do if she _was_ a pirate.

"No." Shizune finally answered. "I'm a medic-nin."

The little girl tensed at the word 'nin', shakily pulling out a rusted kunai that she had apparently stashed in the waistband of her ratted pants. The little girl's hands were shaking.

"I-I won't let you touch me, ya' hear?" the little girls voice was rough from being unused. "I'll kill myself before that happens."

Shizune's eyes widened, panicked at the sight of the little girl putting the blade to the inside of her elbow.

"I don't care how much our mayor owes you- your pirate buddies already killed him and used up every girl in this town." Shizune's eyes were glued to the kunai set against the vein of her arm. "I saw them come for Kaa-san. I saw them do 'er and kill her." the girl shuddered. "-and when they came for me I couldn't do nothin'."

"I-" Shizune weakly tried to interject, wishing her master was here instead of sleeping off her hangover at the nearest inn, five miles away. What was she supposed to say to this jaded little girl?

"-but I'd kill myself rather than spend one day with ninja."

The little girl took a deep breath and moved the kunai-

"There's no need for that."

Shizune let out a sigh of relief as her master skillfully pried the kunai from the little girl's brittle fingers, holding the struggling girl by the nape of her neck.

Tsunade could cut a rather intimidating figure when she wanted to, and now, towering over the girl who was hissing and spitting like a cat, she seemed to be aiming to terrify the girl into obedience.

Suffice to say, it didn't work.

"Stop…struggling you little brat!" Tsunade growled, wincing slightly as the little urchin's nails dug into her arm.

"NO!" the little hellion screeched back, writhing like an eel to get out of Tsunade's iron grip.

Shizune sat back, a sweatdrop making its way down her head. Was her master seriously tussling with a six-year old?

"For Kami sakes girl!" Tsunade snapped, finally pinning her pint-sized opponent's arms to her sides. "I'm not going to hurt you!"

"Yes you _are!"_ the little girl shouted, trying force the Sannin's arms open. "You're ninja!"

"We're Konoha ninja!" Shizune interjected quickly, ignoring the molten glare her master was giving her at the admission. "We're here to help."

The girl finally went quiet, staring at the dark haired lady as if seeing her for the first time. "Y-you're Konoha ninja?" her voice was quiet, the direct opposite of what she had acted like beforehand. The change was so dramatic, even the normally unflappable Tsunade blinked. "We were supposed to go to Konohagakure- we were packing up our house when the pirates attacked." The little girl mumbled. "Kaa-san couldn't get away in time and Otou-san…" she shuddered and said no more.

Tsunade and Shizune exchanged looks. Shizune's was pleading and Tsunade's was stubborn.

_Please?_

Tsunade's eyes softend. Sh sighed and nodded. _All right._

"My name's Shizune." The medic-nin crouched down to the little girl's height, ignoring her still pinned arms. "That lady who's got you is my master, Tsunade-sama. What's your name?"

The little girl looked up a Shizune with large green eyes, and allowed Shizune a good look at her face. Her large forehead made her look more innocent, she decided.

"Are you going ta' kill them?" the little girl asked softly.

It was Tsunade who answered this time, with a hard voice. "Yes."

The little girl broke out into the brightest smile either of them had seen on a child. "My name's Sakura. Haruno Sakura."


	10. Chapter 9: Time Skip: I

This is exploring what happened to Sakura and how she felt after being left high and dry by her team (and Kakashi) Oh noes!

Probably going to get pretty violent actually, with gruesome deaths and plenty of mental scarring to exacerbate the concerns over Sakura's slight skitzo problems. It's gonna get AU peoples.

* * *

The sun slowly peeked through the curtains of most of Konoha's bedrooms, sending bright beams of light into unsuspecting ninja and civilians everywhere. While the civilians mostly groaned and turned over in bed, the ninja had to grit their teeth and bear the early waking hours.

Jounin reported to the mission's office to turn in mission reports or to pick up a parcel of D-ranks for their genin teams. Chuunin reported to their four man squads, ready for a B-ranked mission out of the country or for border patrol.

Konoha was waking up.

* * *

"Wha-!" Sakura jerked awake, the kunai she kept under her pillow in her hand. Her weight leaned forward and with a thumb, she landed face first on the carpeted floor of her room.

"Ow." She muttered, sitting up and rubbing her head ruefully. _Stupid alarm clock._

Taking a deep breath, Sakura rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and began to get ready for the day. By six she was showered, her hair was combed out (short as it was), and she was looking for something to wear.

Her hand ghosted over her usual outfit- a red dress emblazoned with the Haruno family circle. Her hands fingered the holes worn through the fabric, frowning at the frayed seams and stains she suspected were blood.

The dress was beyond repair and not even the most skilled of seamstresses could have the ability to repair the numerous abrasions, holes, and manage to get the rather large bloodstains out of the red fabric.

Even though it was only a dress, Sakura could feel a wave of sadness approaching. This was her Team Seven dress, the dress she had worn on the C-ranked mission to Wave and to the Finals of the Chuunin exams. And now, like her team, it had fallen apart.

Sakura sniffed, and viciously wiped her tears away. It did no good to cry over nothing- she had to report the mission office.

* * *

As an Academy teacher, Iruka was often struck with nostalgia when he saw a student he had taught walking around, laughing with their genin team or proudly sporting a chuunin vest. He would remember, rather vividly, what they had looked like at eleven and twelve and smile fondly and perhaps he would call out and give them a congratulatory wave.

He was proud to say he could remember almost every student he'd ever taught.

So when Sakura Haruno walked into the mission's office, wearing something that definitely _wasn't_ her customary shinobi wear he almost fell out from behind his desk.

"S-sakura-chan?" Iruka sputtered, straightening himself and adjusting his headband which had slid askew.

"Oh, hey Iruka-sensei." Sakura said, smiling slightly, completely oblivious to Iruka's astonishment.

"Y-you… you look different." Iruka sputtered.

Sakura raised an eyebrow and looked down at her attire. Instead of her usual bright red dress she had opted to dig in the back of her closet for something new. In the back, half obscured by fallen clothes, she had found a crumpled black long sleeve shirt with three pink diamond patches sewn down her upper arm.

She smiled fondly as she stroked the comfortable fabric. The last time she'd worn a shirt of this style was in her early years of the Academy. If she remembered correctly, her grandmother had given this to her as a graduation present- she was now ashamed to say she thrown it into the depths of her closet because she figured her red dress was much more pleasing to _Sasuke-kun._

"Yeah." Sakura grinned sheepishly, stepping farther into the room. Iruka's eyebrows shot skyward. Was she wearing regulation shinobi pants?

Iruka briefly checked the ceiling to make sure it wasn't falling.

"Well, what brings you here today?" Iruka said, settling back into his 'authority' voice.

Sakura's smile wavered and her eyes flickered. "I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

Iruka blinked and sat back. That was it, wasn't it? He took a good look at her face and saw what he had just realized reflected in her eyes.

Team Seven had defined her- without them you just didn't know where to place her. On her own, she was unremarkable-a below average kunoichi who would have probably quit the active shinobi lifestyle for administration or the academy after reaching Chuunin status. Instead, she had been assigned to the Copy-cat Nin's team along with the last Uchiha and the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi no Kitune.

She had been in the background so long that now, when her team was stripped from her she was barely a blip on the Konoha radar.

Iruka realized this and could now identify the aura radiating off of her as a mix between betrayal, anger, and soul crushing helplessness.

"Sakura-"

"Haruno-san!"

Both Iruka and Sakura looked to see Izumo leaning against the doorway, winded. "H-hokage-sama has sent for you. You have an appointment in ten minutes."

"Aa, Izumo-san." Iruka said, nodding. "You'd better get going Sakura-chan. Hokage-sama wouldn't like to be kept waiting."

"Yeah, I'd better go." Sakura assented, a melancholy expression taking over as she walked out of the room. "See you later, Iruka-sensei."

A silence stretched on as the sound of Sakura's sandals on the wooden floors slowly tapered off.

"Was that the Team Seven girl?" Izumo asked, his head tilted quizzically.

Iruka sighed heavily as he reorganized the missions set out on his desk. "Not anymore."


	11. Chapter 10: Conspiracy Theory: II

Whew! Two in one day, I'm on a roll!

A continuation of Conspiracy Theory: 1

* * *

Kakashi's stomach felt like it had been filled with lead. Even as he acted nonchalant and picked out another C-rank mission for Team Seven he could feel guilt churning in his heart and making it hard to breath.

He had to stop the sharp inhalation of breath he felt when he saw all of the happy faces of his genin over the new mission.

Naruto was ecstatic.

Sakura was pleased with herself and making eyes at Sasuke.

Sasuke was smug.

Kakashi was in despair.

Kakashi wasn't stupid, he knew that the Hokage would never authorize the death of Naruto Uzumaki, the man loved Naruto like a grandson. But… the Hokage didn't have as much power as he thought he did. If he told the Hokage, he'd be executed for speaking of an S-ranked mission on the urging of the Council and Naruto and Sakura would be dead anyway. There were many ways to make people disappear…

"Damn it."

"Did you say something sensei?" Sakura asked, looking up at him with such innocent eyes… eyes that would be cold and dead and would never light up again, dead by _his _hand….

"No, it was nothing Sakura-chan. Pack enough for a week; we move out in the morning." Kakashi said, his voice curt and emotionless as he turned away and vanished

Despite himself, Kakashi felt his sharingan eye begin to water and felt the dampness leak into his mask.

"Damnit Obito." Kakashi whispered as he sat on the roof of the missions building with his head in his hands. "You always were such a bleeding heart."


	12. Chapter 11: Politics: I

A Temarix? mystery!

* * *

Sabaku no Temari sighed as the Suna council blabbed on and on, droning like bees about the dishonor of Suna, and the demands of the Leaf. Though politics didn't really interest her, they had plagued her like a disease; constant and inescapable.

It had been only a few short month since the foolhardy Oto-Suna Invasion and, to be frank, she was sick of the mindless drone of politics. Did it really matter if someone was offended when you could easily put a kunai through they're neck?

'Of course' Temari mused. 'The proverbial neck of Konoha was a little too big in this case.'

"And in conclusion," the head councilmen said with a bored air of someone who would rather be taking a nap. "It is our wish –Temari snorted- that Sabaku no Temari be sent to Konoha to solidify to bonds between Suna and Konoha through matrimony, doing so will prevent-" Temari blocked out the rest of the Head Elder's speech.

Sabaku no Temari…_married?_


	13. Chapter 12: Desertion: I

A little angsty one-shot for Naruto. Probably not going to continue this one...

* * *

Naruto mindlessly trudged across the blistering sands of Kaze no Kuni, his mind frozen in fear, self-loathing, and disgust.

"_You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"_ Mizuki's voice echoed around in his empty head, pounding against the side of his skull, crashing louder and louder into a cacophony of disbelief and terror.

He remembered vaguely that Iruka had said that he was only the container but now Naruto knew better.

Iruka was lying.

_Monster! Demon!_

Was Iruka one of the faceless villagers that terrorized him every day? One of the constant attempts to kill him on his birthday?

'_You are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!'_

Naruto stopped on the top of a huge sand dune and stripped off his heavy jacket, tying it around his waist and mechanically he cut his orange pants until they looked like normal shorts. He threw his goggles in the hot sand. He had no regrets; they had been from that liar Iruka anyway.

Naruto continued to trudge along, his mind in a daze, partly from dehydration and depression. He had gotten rid of the Forbbiden Scroll miles ago, outside of the gates of Konoha. To some it might have been priceless, but to him it was just dead weight. Sure he had learned Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, and he may have peeked at the other jutsu, but they had all been far too advanced and complicated for him to even comprehend. So he had left it, along with every other tie he had to the village.

He turned into the wind and marched on.


	14. Chapter 13: Gender Bending:1

Naruko grinned as she straightened her hitae-ate on her forehead, running her hand through her wild, shoulder length blonde hair in a parody of a comb.

"New mission today!" she chirped to herself, zipping up her orange and black jacket. Her blue eyes quickly assessed her appearance before shrugging.

Eh. She was never one to care about how she looked.

She stepped outside, onto the stoop, taking a deep breath of fresh Konoha air. The morning calm was invigorating, filling her with energy and shaking off the last vestige of sleep. The city of Konoha was bustling, giving glimpses of village life to the fifteen year old genin as she made her way through the dusty streets. The civilian crowds got less and less full as she passed through the markets and towards the administrative buildings. The missions' office was on one of the floors of the Hokage tower- easily accessible to the Hokage and the various administrative genin that bustled around its' many rooms of files and secret documents.

"Yo, Naruko-chan!" Naruko blinked, looking to the left to see Kakashi lounging against the wall, hands in his pockets, his single grey eye lazy.

"Oh, Ohayo Kakashi-sensei!" Naruko grinned, waving.

"The others are waiting at the gates." Kakashi said, stepping off the plaster wall to join Naruko in a lazy walk down to the main village enterance.

"Eh? –eh? Kakashi-sensei?"

"What?" Kakashi blinked, tilting his head toward his young student.

"What's the mission?" Naruko grinned, crossing her arms behind her head. "Are we going to go bust up an opium ring or take out some bandits-"

"Escort mission, Naruko-chan." Kakashi said, bored. He flicked out his book, ignoring Naruko's irritated expression. "B-class."

"B-class!" Naruko repeated, grinning. "Yatta!

Kakashi hummed in agreement.

Up ahead, the great gates loomed, sending a long shadow across the ground in the morning sun. Naruko squinted, taking in the small group of people gathered around a large caravan. She could make out the dull brown hair of what she supposed was their clients, the dark black hair of Sai in stark contrast to his porcelain white skin, and the bright pink hair of-

"I am_ not_ gay!"

-Sakuran.

Naruko broke into snickers as they approached, making out the frustrated face of her male teammate. His green eyes were flashing and she could see he was dying to display some of that strength he had learned from Tsunade.

"Why else would you have pink hair?" The client was a strangely effeminate man with a high voice that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a girl. The irony.

Naruko smirked, still a few feet behind Sakuran. The pink hair was a sore spot for Sakuran- apparently only the female members of his clan were supposed to carry that particular trademark.

"It's a clan thing!" the shinobi hissed back, trying hard to reign in his explosive temper. Sakuran had already been reprimanded once this month for beating the crap out of an overly insensitive client- he didn't need another demerit on his record.

"Sure." Naruko frowned. Mr. Client no Baka certainly knew the way to an early grave with the way he was carrying on.

"Have you ever heard of Tsunade!" Sakuran's voice was getting desperate. "The Sannin with the huge rack? I trained with her for three years! Three!"

"You didn't make a move?" the client shook his head. "You're not really making your case here."

"I'm NOT GAY!" Sakuran shouted, pulling at his short, inch long pink hair. "I was born like this!"

"I'm pretty sure it's a lifestyle choice Dickless." Sai interjected, his gaze as vacant and blank as usual. He blinked and looked to see Naruko choking back laughter. "Ugly agrees with me."

"Wha- Naruko?" Sakuran's face flashed bright red- from anger or embarrassment; it was hard to tell. "Kakashi-sensei? Oh man…"

Kakashi giggled. "I'm sure the jounin bar will be happy to hear of your latest misadventures Sakuran-kun."

"Now, as I was saying-" The client interjected. "I refuse to have such a bad influence guarding my children." He gestured to the gaggle of little boys behind him. "We'll wait for a replacement-"

"For the love of-" Sakuran yelled, fed up. "I'm so sick and tired of my masculinity being questioned! You know what? See if I'm so gay after this!"

And with that, Sakuran turned-a wild look in his eye- and planted a kiss right on Naruko's lips. After a few seconds- Naruko lost count after five- Sakuran pulled away to face the skeptical man.

"HAH! I'm so not gay!"

The client's eyebrow rose.

"Well, now you have to deal with the blonde."

There was silence for a few seconds.

"…shit."


	15. Chapter 14: Conspiracy Theory: III

This is actually the most Sasuke-oriented bit I've ever written. As a fan, I kind of hate him because he's what made Sakura weak (my feminist side couldn't stand it) but as a writer, he's the best. We all need an angst!bitch once in a while. Sasuke is my angst!bitch. Deal with it.

* * *

It happened in seconds.

Sakura would later look back and say those were the longest three seconds of her life—and also the most defining.

The normalcy of their mission had been refreshing—no surprise visits from demons of Kakashi-sensei's past, no greedy missing-nin wielding meat cleavers taller than themselves... it had been a welcome change from the steady inflow of dangerous and mislabeled missions Team Seven seemed to be handed on a daily basis. It was an easy delivery mission, C-rank only because of its political significance, not because of any actual danger.

Sakura should have guessed it was too easy.

The street had erupted into smoke, vile, toxic fumes that had burned her nose and eyes, leaving her feeling as though her sinuses were being scrubbed with bleach. Naruto was on the ground beside her, brought to his knees by the effects, their coughs echoing around the dense cloud of yellow smoke. Tears streamed down their faces as they clutched at each other's clothing and stumbled off the road in to the foliage, losing sight of Sasuke in the confusion.

They were unable to resist the enemy that struck them from behind.

* * *

Sasuke's hands shook and his knees trembled; his breath came out in short gasps.

Itachi Uchiha had arrived.

"Y-you…" Sasuke stuttered, so surprised his voice was unsteady and quiet.

"Brother." Itachi's face showed no emotion—even less than usual because of the black and red cloak that obscured half his face.

"I'll kill you!" Sasuke snarled, his eyes flashing into the Sharingan as he dashed forward, kunai in hand-

Itachi's face twisted up into a smirk as he carelessly batted Sasuke's kunai away with a flick of his fingers, artfully digging his hand into the wrist joint at _just _the right pressure…

Sasuke's knees buckled from pain as his wrist bones were separated, dislocating and possibly fracturing his wrist.

"So… weak…" Itachi murmured, lashing out with a booted foot to catch Sasuke in the solar plexus and launch him a good seven feet away. "I see you haven't been training much…little brother." The older Uchiha tilted his head, his onyx gaze analyzing Sasuke as if he were an interesting insect he was deciding whether or not to squish. "You haven't been making the most of Hatake-san's teachings, I see."

"Kakashi-sensei…?" Sasuke sputtered, looking around wildly as if expecting the man to appear out of nowhere.

"Your sensei is occupied." Itachi said, his stance shifting slightly, disappointment radiating from him like the sun. "Now, about your training…"

"Shut up!" Sasuke screamed back, spittle flying from his mouth. "You have no right- grk."

Itachi was on him in a second, gripping him by the neck and hoisting him up to eye level. "You are _weak_." Itachi said, his voice dripping with contempt. "Are you the vessel with which I will test my capacity? Pathetic." The nuke-nin dropped the gasping genin onto the ground, turning away from his brother.

"Don't turn your back on me…" Sasuke growled, forcing himself off the ground, quaking with effort.

"I believe these belong to you…" Itachi looked over his shoulder and drew his cloak aside, revealing two mangled, crispy corpses; one clothed in red, the other orange.

Sasuke's eyes shot open, his mouth dropping as his face filled with horror."Naruto… Sakura…" Sasuke breathed his breath hitching. His eyes darted back to Itachi, only to find his brother's face made of stone.

"They fought well to protect you," Itachi continued, almost conversationally as he prodded the charred bodies with his sandaled foot. "they were loyal. It is unfortunate you were not strong enough to save them." Sasuke blinked, and Itachi was two inches from him.

A pair of fingers poked him in the forehead. "Foolish little brother." With a swirl of leaves the nuke-nin was gone.

Sasuke stared, immobile at what remained of his team. All…gone. Destroyed.

Sasuke's eyes closed and, unbidden, tears fell.

* * *

Yay angst!

Don't worry, this will be continued and more surprises will unfold! With minimal Angstbitch!Sasuke of course. I cannot write that boy to save my life...

Anyway, more surprised in the next installment.

Stay tuned,

Tim


	16. Chapter 16: Unsheathed: I

This will not be continued. It was just a little thing I thought up in my free time. I liked it. I may do another piece that features Sakura killing Sasuke and how Naruto hated her for it and how she descended into alcoholism and ect. and ect. and all about how she slowly recovered... hm...

I always figured Sakura would kill Sasuke, not Naruto.

* * *

"Sakura." His voice was measured and cold, like he was talking with an ice cube in his mouth. His eyes were the same as they always had been; dark and cold- but now he was harder, less giving. His hair was the same shade of raven black that she had spent her childhood years writing poems about- only to have them shredded or rejected in front of her eyes.

"Sasuke." She made sure her voice was calm, and quiet. Perhaps…?

"Come to drag me back to Konoha?" his chin rose, arrogance displayed for all to see. "Annoying."

No. Uchiha Sasuke hadn't changed a bit.

"I don't waste my time on traitors."

For the first time, she saw his jaw tighten and rage flicker in his eyes before his brow smoothed again and he was as emotionless as ever.

"Hn."

Still the same.

Sakura's head tipped to the side, taking Sasuke in through eyes jaded by ANBU training and Interrogation 101. He was broken in so many places on rage kept him going and she knew that once he killed Itachi, he'd turn on someone else to fill the void where his soul should've been.

Namely, Konoha.

"Naruto's given up on you, you know." Sakura's voice was slightly muffled by her ANBU mask, her safety net that guarded her identity from others and kept her sane when ANBU missions got unbearable. "He chose Hokage over you; he has a standing order of kill on sight for you now." Her laugh was hollow. "It killed him to do it but he knew you had to be stopped."

"I guess the Dobe couldn't keep all his promises."

Sakura snorted. "He doesn't consider you a friend anymore; he's cut you out of his world now. His promises don't extend to traitors. Or dead men."

Sasuke's was equally hollow, a dry raspy sound that reminded her of a death rattle. "Are you going to kill me Sakura?" His tone made it clear he expected no such thing.

"Yes." Her reply was simple as she hissed into his ear, her ANBU katana already through his heart, protruding out of his chest.

He turned, looking back with wide, surprised eyes. "Wha-? You… killed me? Sakura?"

Sakura's only reply was a nod before she withdrew her sword and cleanly wiped it on his Akatsuki cloak. "I didn't kill you, idiot." She mumbled, gathering his body to her chest for the long run home. Naruto always wanted Sasuke buried in Konoha. "You killed yourself."


	17. Chapter 17: Mononoke: III

"I'm screwed." Sakura muttered as she sank back into her pillows, throwing an arm across her eyes. "Tsunade-shishou couldn't have trained me for this- hell, _Amaterasu_ couldn't have trained me for this. I am _not_ qualified for bullshit of this magnitude."

She sighed, groaning. "This is _so _Kakashi-senpai's area of expertise."

Seriously, who the hell got captured by _demon lords_?

"Maybe he wouldn't eat me?" Sakura asked, musing aloud to herself and the empty room- noting the paper thin walls and the extremely traditional tatami mats that covered the floor. "I'm probably too stringy."

Hopefully.

Sakura passed the next few days alternating from discreetly healing herself in preparation of an escape attempt, and mentally updating her will. In all that time, to her relief, Naruto didn't deign to revisit her. Her meals were left by her bedside when she slept and even when she attempted to remain awake to see who fed her, she always felt too drowsy to stay awake- causing her to suspect a genjutsu.

Really, this Naruto character was smart; she'd definitely take a member of his household hostage if she could manage it and use them to escape if given half a chance.

She guessed the old tales weren't far off- kitsune really were as crafty as the legends said they were. Sneaky little bastard.

Sakura stretched, her back aching from laying down too long. While she frequently got up to exercise and move about so her muscles didn't atrophy she was still definitely sore from being stabbed so many times and she suspected she'd scar rather spectacularly on her stomach- that chakra didn't seem to be very healthy…

"How is my lovely visitor doing this fine, wonderful, fantastical morning?"

Sakura cursed and jumped as she turned to see Naruto standing in the entrance to her little sick room, smirking.

"Kami, " Sakura mumbled, holding her chest as she tried to get her breath back. "don't _do _that Naruto."

"Sakura-chan…" the demon lord whined, shutting the sliding door behind him, his elegant blue kimono and white haori swishing as his walked.

"I'm not Sakura-chan." Sakura muttered, vaguely weirded out by the overly familiar way with which the adolescent (ancient?) demon was referring to her. "Geez, you're so rude…"

"I'm not Naruto." The lord teased, grinning as Sakura's face flushed. Naruto, without the –san could be referred as a very intimate way to refer to someone, or derogatory.

Sakura meant derogatory. Naruto thought intimate.

This was a problem.


	18. Chapter 18: Shogun: I

"You are beautiful." He said, his voice, cultured and refined, slide past her rough, uncouth ears.

Sakura turned away, ashamed of his bright stare and warm eyes and-

"I wish you'd be my wife." He said, his voice was earnest, strong. "My father is the Shogun! He can make you a noble's daughter, he can give us the means to be happy-"

Sakura shook her head; wringing hands calloused from work that this young man would never understand. "I am a village girl, Uzumaki-sama-"

"Naruto." The samurai man interjected, gently grabbing her wrists in warm hands. "I am Naruto."

"Naruto Uzumaki." Sakura said, stressing his last name, an honor she did not get to share. She was of too low a class to deserve a clan affiliation. "I am Sakura."

"You are the apprentice to Tsunade, the legendary warrior healer!" Naruto exclaimed, exasperated, a dark flush bringing out his distinctive blessing marks; three whiskers scars that people whispered that Inari himself, God of Foxes, had placed on the Shogunate heir at birth. "You are not no one! You are someone- to me!"

Sakura's hands shook as she clasped one of Naruto's own. "I appreciate the depth of your concern, Uzumaki-sama-"

"Bullshit!" Naruto growled, grabbing her, pulling her around to face him.

"Naruto-sama." Sakura's voice was steel, belaying the iron core beneath the shyness and her steady avoidance of the subject. "Who is it your father, Minato-sama, wants you to marry?"

Naruto recoiled, his eyes wide and confused. "Hinata-hime-"

"Yes," Sakura goaded. "Why?"

Naruto's eyes glimmered in understanding before they dulled in sorrow. "To bring the Hyuuga under the rule of the Shogun." He whispered, his voice hoarse with grief.

"You will be happy." Sakura said, laying a hand on his cheek, her eyes filled with something the young lord could not name. "I hear the Hyuuga-hime is smitten with you."

"She is not you." Naruto insisted, craving Sakura's touch, even as she let her hand fall from his cheek.

"I know." Sakura smiled sadly as she turned away. "You will forget me, in time, and you will be happy."

"No I won't!" Naruto said, frustrated. "I love you Sakura-chan-"

"Uzumaki-sama," her tone was formal and final. "Do your duty, and I will do mine. Perhaps, in another life, we will be blessed enough to be together in the way you want. But now..." she shook her head, her pink hair whisping around her face. "I must bid you goodbye."

"We go to Edo in the morning!" Naruto said hotly. "I will never see you again! Is that what you want?"

Sakura had turned away, and he couldn't see the tears slowly tracking down her face. "So be it."

* * *

OMGosh! Drama!

Terms:

Shogun: supreme military dictator of Japan

Inari- god of rice (foxes were his messengers)

Edo- seat of the Shogunate in Tokugawa Japan


	19. Chapter 19: Ukiyo: I

I'll be trying to avoid the cliche 'geisha' storyline as much as possible so don't freak out. I promise it'll be a little more original than ___that._

* * *

"Iie, Jiraiya-sensei!" Naruto called, prodding his horse forward to keep up with the older samurai. "Where are we going?"

"Ah, Naruto-kun," Jiraiya grinned, sitting back in his saddle. "Edo! The capital of the world!"

"Eh," Naruto mumbled, scratching his head, mussing up his abnormal hair coloring. "That's what you said about Kyoto."

"Edo is the seat of the Shogunate boy!" Jiraiya whooped, bouncing in his saddle. "All roads lead to Edo, they say. Especially the Tokaido." He gestured to the sea of dust that surrounded them, tossed up by peasants, farmers, and merchants on their way towards and from the great city.

"This is a training journey Jiraiya-sensei!" Naruto yelped, urging his horse along as he saw himself fall behind even more. "I thought you were supposed to teach me kenjutsu!"

"Kenjutsu is only part of being a samurai Naruto!" Jiraiya yelled, placing his hands protectively on his own long and short sword and nodding toward Naruto's own. "For the rest, well- I have a few friends who can help you with that!"

"What friends!" Naruto yelled, but his question was lost in the din of the Tokaido road.

"Geisha friends!" Jiraiya laughed back, whipping his horse into a gallop- forcing Naruto to catch up or be forces to swallow the older man's dust.

They passed through the gate and were soon swallowed by the city.


	20. Chapter 20: Conspiracy Theory: IV

Twentieth chapter! Yay!

* * *

When Naruto awoke, he was dimly aware of the fact his skull felt like it had been split in two. He groaned, wincing as his head pounded, dragging himself to his knees.

He felt like he was going to throw up.

"N-naruto?"

"Eh..?" Naruto turned, his eyes barely cracked open, into a blurry mess of pink and green. "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura definitely looked the worse for wear- her hair was ragged with dirt and mussed from the undergrowth that surrounded them and her dress had been cut into a shirt, leaving her green shorts exposed.

Naruto realized suddenly that Sakura looked a lot tougher and more like a kunoichi that way. Not that he'd ever say that.

"Where are we?" he asked instead, casting his eyes around the clearing they had woken in. Sunlight streamed through the leaves of the dense canopy, sending dappled shadows dancing with the wind- the air was pleasantly warm.

"The road's over there." Sakura said, pointing off to the right. Her voice was strangely listless.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked immediately, concerned.

She shook her head wordlessly, handing him a scroll she had been gripping tightly in her hand. "I found it next to us when I woke up." Her voice was flat and devoid of emotion- like feeling took too much effort.

_Naruto and Sakura,_

_I know when you get this scroll that we will never see each other ever again. At least, I hope we never do. Konoha politics had shifted; the Council of Elders has voted for your immediate execution and I was elected to carry out the punishment._

_So why are you alive?_

_I once told you that a ninja who disobeys the rules are trash, but those who leave their friends behind are worse than trash. I believe it's time I started following my own advice. Sealed into this note is enough supplies to get you through the next few weeks- dry rations only. _

_My only advice to you is get out of the country. Hole up somewhere where they will never find you and where no one would question your existence. Stick to the big cities and use henge all the time- don't slip up. It could mean both our deaths._

_Don't try to contact me, or Sasuke. It's too dangerous and Sasuke… Sasuke thinks you're dead thanks to a very clever genjutsu. Let it lie._

_Keep your wits sharp and your ninja techniques at top par. I've written a few of the more basic genjutsu and techniques for your two to use in the seal along with your rations. You need all the help you can get._

_Your sensei,_

_Kakashi Hatake_

_P.S. If you meet someone named Jiraiya who has white hair and red stripes on his face, trust him. He'll help you._

Naruto lowered the message with shaking hands, self-consciously wiping at the sweet that had beaded on his upper lip. "Oh man…" he mumbled.

"T-there's got to be some way-"

"There is no way!" Sakura hissed, all teary eyes and anger. "We are on our own. Sasuke-kun thinks we're dead. Our own village wants us executed! There is no way!" She heaved a deep breath, choking back tears that threatened to fall.

"I don't want to die." Sakura admitted, her voice small. Naruto noticed at tear trekking down her face but chose not to say anything.

"Neither do I." he muttered.

Sakura's head came down on his shoulder, burying her face into his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. He stiffened at first, surprised by the contact of Sakura, of all people, but soon shrugged and wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders, burying his face in her hair. This wasn't romance, this was one teammate to another.

"I'm scared." Naruto muttered, his voice almost inaudible except for a steady thrum that echoed through his chest.

"So am I." Sakura admitted, and they fell into silence.

They took whatever comfort they could from each other for they knew it was probably the last bit of security they would experience for a long time.


	21. Chapter 21: Ame: I

Sakura is a missing-nin. When she stumbles into the power struggle that is enveloping Amegakure, her life and her purpose as a ninja is changed forever. **Not** Akatsuki!Sakura

* * *

Sakura Haruno, A-class missing-nin of Konoha- declared a traitor by the Rokudaime Hokage, Danzo, arrived in Ame tired, filthy, and soaked to the skin. Her hair was a dull pink after constant weeks travel and was clinging to the back of her neck, heavy with rain. Her short bangs fell in her face, free to fall where they would; her hitae-ate was gone.

Konoha… Sakura's chest tightened to think about her home. Konoha had become a dark place. Danzo's power was like a vise, slowly squeezing the Will of Fire out of its inhabitants, like a parasite that fed on the death of others. ANBU Root had become Danzo's secret police, ferreting out even the smallest of murmurs against the Hokage to bring the perpetrators to trial and, most often, execution.

Most of the Rookie Nine had fled, seeking asylum in Suna and Kumo- they were the only ones to survive, really. The average life-span of a missing-nin A-rank and below was about three-weeks- Sakura was going on six months.

She blew like a sakura petal on the wind; without purpose. Her only concern was with survival and even that she'd done badly at. Sakura hadn't had the heart to rob her fellow travelers and no one had much food or money anyway- but she had paid for it. Her form was emaciated and her chakra; a chakra pool she'd worked and bled to expand to Kakashi's level, was down to that of a mere genin.

It had been a bitter pill to swallow; she was just as weak as she'd been for the first time she'd left the village as she had for the last time.

"Halt." Sakura blinked. Two ninja of Ame blocked her path- bulging arm muscles and firm stances intimidating to the civilians who cowered from them. Sakura was more interested in the fact they looked well fed than scared.

"Hmm?" Sakura blinked the drizzle out of her eyes; it was always raining in Ame. She guessed Pein, or Nagato, really hadn't had too much to do with it.

"What is your business here?" the leader of the two asked, leering. "Nothing respectable, I'd guess."

Sakura blinked. She supposed her brightly colored hair could be misplaced as the trappings of a prostitute, but she hadn't thought too much about it. That would've explained some of the more puzzling conversations she'd had in the past few days. Perhaps it was an Ame thing?

"My name is Sakura," She said, ignoring the way the men eyed her up and down. Another time, with more chakra, and if her admission into the village didn't depend on it, she would've broken his jaw. "I'm a traveling doctor."

"You don't say?" the ninja grinned to his partner. "you can play doctor with me anytime."

Sakura frowned, annoyed now. It was raining harder now and Sakura could feel her pack getting heavier as it took on water. "I'd rather not, thank you. May I go through please?"

With another laughing look at his partner, the shinobi stepped forward, his grin menacing as he reached for her. "For a price…"

Later the gatemen's partner would swear that it happened so fast that the only evidence that she did anything at all was his partner's injuries. The pink women had reached out and with a deft twist, snapped the lewd ninja's wrist with a sickening crack. Then, calmly, without hurry, she had walked past them into the bustling, wet, urban city, quickly lost among the crowd.

Slowly, quietly, Sakura's legend was being born.


	22. Chapter 22: Time Skip: II

Tsunade sighed as she shuffled the papers on her desk, double checking that all the forms had been checked out in triplicate before sliding them into her outbox.

God, genin teams were a bitch.

She had the four fresh teams graduating from the academy this year, plus the genin who'd passed the remedial exams all clamoring for jonin sensei- jonin she couldn't afford to spare at the moment.

"Shit." She mumbled, kneading her forehead to ward off the growing headache. Maybe two chuunin per genin team…?

"Tsunade-sama?" Tsunade blinked and looked up, noticing her assistant slipping into the room.

"What is it, Shizune?" she asked, turning back to her paperwork. Maybe a special jounin for specialized teams instead of chuunin?

"Haruno Sakura is here to see you now."

Oh.

Tsunade nodded and gestured for Shizune to send the girl in, leaning back in her chair as she did so. Casually, she flipped through the Haruno file- blinking at the picture of the smiling, bright-eyed genin clipped to the corner.

Teammate to Uchiha Sasuke, traitor, and Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuurikiri, Tsunade noticed there didn't seem to be very much detail in Kakashi's reports. Her eyes narrowed- her ninjutsu repertoire hadn't changed since her graduation eight months ago, she still only knew the three academy ninjutsu. She was brilliant, analytical- why hadn't Kakashi used her as a foil against the two male genin on the team? With training in compartmentalization and self-control exercises, her infatuation with the Uchiha could've been contained and allow her to work as a shinobi, instead…

Tsunade slapped down the file on her desk in frustration as a knock sounded on the door.

God, that person better have sake.

"Come in!" Tsunade barked, swiveling her chair to stare out of her windows at the Konoha skyline.

"Hokaga-sama?" Haruno's voice was respectful and slightly hesitant as she closed the door behind her. Good; she got no respect around here. "You asked to see me?"

"Sakura Haruno, age 13, genin of Konohagakure?" Tsunade asked, her tone questioning.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." She sounded confused.

"You have two choices," Tsunade said, her voice steel. "Your team has been dissolved-" Tsunade noticed the tenseness in the young girl's jaw, which she attributed to grief or something- "and Kakashi has requested some long S-ranked missions and will be out of the village almost indefinitely."

Sakura muttered something that sounded a lot like "figures" and Tsunade's tone sharpened.

"What 'figures', Haruno-san?" Tsunade's voice was like ice. "Hatake Kakashi is out serving his village- helping return Konoha to stability and to protect it from foreign invaders." The accusation in the Hokage's words didn't need to be spoken.

Sakura's shoulders shook and her hands clenched in rage. Helplessness rose like a tidal wave, almost threatening to sweep her away.

"Can I speak freely, Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked, his voice shaking with emotion. Her throat burned and she felt moisture building in her eyes; a feeling she ruthlessly suppressed.

Tsunade nodded, her posture still stiff. For once, she was stone cold sober.

"Kakshi-sensei has never once given me instruction in the shinobi arts." Sakura lifted her eyes from the floor to meet the unaffected orbs of her leader. "Outside of the three academy jutsu, I know only tree walking –" her voice turned bitter. "-which I got right on the first try, without any assistance or instruction."

"According to your academy tests, your IQ was estimated at 126, only 14 points from being considered an academic genius."

Tsunade turned in her chair, looking Sakura down with a gimlet eye. "My question is why your abilities as a kunoichi haven't shown that intelligence."

Sakura flushed, shame coloring the tips of her ears.

"You can try and blame Kakashi all you want. Yes, he was partly to blame but mostly- mostly you were just lazy, weak, and misguided. Suffering from delusions of romance."

"Is that what is says in my file?" Sakura asked, her voice low and rough, like her tears were caught in her throat.

"Yes; the Uchiha traitor, was it?" Tsunade raised a lone blonde eyebrow as Sakura's eyes dropped to the ground. "The same boy that Naruto has promised to bring home- the promise of a lifetime hmmm?"

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama." Sakura's voice was tight. "I am going to help him. We'll do it together."

Tsunade snorted. "Not with your skills as they are. You chakra levels will never make you a suitable melee ninja. Medical ninjutsu, assassination, ANBU, stealth… those are the occupations that would fit your ability level. Uzumaki and the Uchiha- they are flashy ninjutsu and taijutsu types. Lots of chakra, lots of strength acting mostly on instinct." Tsuade rolled her eyes. "Neanderthals."

"Hokage-sama…?" Sakura didn't really know where Tsunade was going with her little tangent.

"You're being reassigned, Haruno." Tsunade said. "To Team 8, until Hyuuga Hinata is cleared for active duty after her surgery."

"What? Wait, I-"

"My decision is final, Haruno." Tsunade's voice was like steel. "Report to the Missions Office at 5:00 A.M tomorrow morning. Don't be late."

Sakura frowned mutinously before bowing and nodding. She turned on her heel and left, her back rigid and her chin tall as she walked away.

Tsunade smirked to herself as she reached past her sake bottle to the pertinent forms lying out on her desk.

OFFICIAL FORM OF REASSIGNMENT IN THE CASE OF

-SAKURA HARUNO-

FROM THE FORMER GNIN CELL 7 LEAD BY JONIN KAKASHI HATAKE,

TO THE CURRENT TEAM 8 LED BY KURENAI YUHI,

BY ORDER OF THE GODAIME HOKAGE OF KONOHAGAKURE, LADY TSUNADE SENJU…

Tsunade paused, pen poised over the dotted line. Pondering.

Perhaps she should give it a little more time…?

Tsunade snorted, her hand slipping beneath her desk to the flask stuck to the wood. She carelessly signed, her loopy handwriting scrawling across the page as she took a pull.

Whatever.

* * *

I know people are clamoring for an update on my other stories, but I'm trying to find my muse again- she deserted me. I haven't given up yet, but I'm going to be a while.


	23. Chapter 23: The Miko and the Kitsune: I

Newest addition to the Nineth Life, The Miko and the Kitsune. It includes liberal amounts of ItaHina side romance, Sasuke angst, and a miko Sakura. Oh yeah, and Naruto's totally a kitsune demon intent on making the Uchiha miserable- which is why Sakura is one of the main characters, 'cause she's a priestess trained to get rid of demon infestations.

Can you see why this NaruSaku pairing is going to have so much swag?

* * *

"It is my honor to open the ceremony in which Lord Uchiha Itachi and Lady Hyuuga Hinata will be united in marriage." A pair of stern, hawkish clear eyes stared out at parties assembled in Konoha Castle's private reception hall. Hyuuga Neji's face was solemn and deliberate- aware of the many high profile, powerful people who'd come to witness the treaty that would finally stop the feuding between the warring Hyuuga and Uchiha.

A pleasant breeze floated through the sliding doors, the garden resplendent in the pastels of spring clashing against a brilliant blue sky. Two priests, dressed in white robes and tall, black, ceremonial caps slowly paraded through the ceremony until they reached an alcove at the front of the hall. There, they knelt, touching their heads to the ground before the shrine that nestled comfortably in the small niche. The traditional offerings of rice cakes and consecrated sake lay innocuously on the small altar. Two maidens, wearing the traditional hooded robes of Konoha shrine attendants swept into the room, taking up a dignified stance by the kneeling priests, their faces impassive and serene.

On the tatami mats to the left of the alcove knelt the bride's father and closest relations: cold, impassive Lord Hyuuga Hiashi, the High Chamberlain, along with his nephew and heir, Neji. To the right, the groom's party consisted of Lord Uchiha Fugaku, the Shogun's Most Important Investigator of Events and his wife Lady Mikoto and youngest son, Sasuke. All eyes were turned to the front of the hall, intent on the couple that was the center of the ceremony.

Itachi and Hinata sat before two small black tables, he wearing traditional black Uchiha garb, stamped with his crest, with his two swords at his waist: she in a white silk kimono and drape that completely covered her face and hair. Both were stiff, faces staring rigidly forward. The hall was silent.

One of the priests broke the silence, swishing a long wand tasseled with _sade_, white paper strips made to chase out evil and purify the room, chanting under his breath. The second priest played a series of high pitched notes on a bamboo flute, while the first set the wand down and thumped out an accompanying rhythm on a wooden drum. Then, abruptly, the music ceased.

The company held its breath; now came the most sacred part of the wedding ritual, an omen to foretell if the wedding would be prosperous and fruitful… or just another failed attempt at peace in a long line of failures.

One attendant poured the consecrated sake from the shrine into a long handled brass ladle and brought it to the small tables and set it on the one directly in front of the bride. The other maiden carefully set a tray containing a small wooden cup on the lacquered table set before the groom. From the ladle, the attendants carefully filled the small cup, bowed, and stepped back.

Fugaku's hands clenched and unclenched, a muscle in his temple twitching. His face was serene, but his body was as tense as taut wire. Prudence tempered his fury- there were too many powerful people in this room to lose face with if he exploded as he wished. The kami knew that if he had his way, this pathetic farce of a treaty would never go through. His black eyes narrowed, his nose wrinkling slightly in disgust. Every Uchiha knew that the only way to peace was if the Hyuuga were eradicated- it was only at the order of Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Shogun of Konoha that the two feuding clans grudgingly accepted peace. Fugaku's mouth pursed, looking at Hiashi out of the corner of his eye. He was gratified to see that Hiashi looked just as pleased about the ceasefire as he was- at least their hatred of each other was something they had in common. Sniffing disdainfully, he turned his attention back to the ceremony.

Hinata, her face still concealed by the white headdress lifted the sake cup to her lips and drank. She repeated this three times and then passed the cup back to the attendant who refilled it and gave it to Itachi, who took his own three swallows.

The entire congregation visibly relaxed. The _san-ku-do_, the "three-times –three-sips" pledge that sealed the marriage was done. The attendant set aside the cup and bowed as the drum and flute music resumed. The Uchiha and Hyuuga were now joined in a marital alliance, the start of a new chapter in Konoha history-

"Demons!" The shout drew the attention of the combined Uchiha and Hyuuga parties, their heads whipping around to stare at the flailing Hyuuga Hanabi, the sister of the bride, as she stood to her feet and slapped at her smoldering robes, shrieking as the strange, unnatural blue flames licked at her oiled hair. Sasuke Uchiha was the closest, and he quickly moved to beat the flames out- only to somehow set himself ablaze as well. "Demons!" Hanabi shrieked again, and chaos broke out amongst the wedding guests as they pushed past each other in their haste to get out of the room. Silk ripped as men and women alike scrambled to run in their cumbersome ceremonial robes, not bothering to check their stride as they stressed the seams that kept their expensive clothes together.

Fugaku and Hiashi stood their ground, however, as well as the newly wedded couple standing together behind them. The men had their katana drawn, light flashing against the blades as they looked around uneasily- though Itachi's face was as calm and impassive as ever. Hinata, though without a blade, seemed to be fingering something tucked into her obi and it didn't take a magistrate to figure out it had to be a blade of some kind.

A loud chuckle filled the silence, echoing from everywhere and nowhere. "My, my…" the voice said. Definitely male and definitely human. "I'm honored. The legendary leaders of the Hyuuga and Uchiha Clans, drawing their swords against little ol' _me_? Really, I'm flattered."

"Show yourself!" Hiashi barked, his grip tightening on the hilt of his blade.

"Tch. You're no fun." The voice sounded legitimately disappointed. "All of you samurai in one place, fighting to protect the lovely Lady Hyuuga from the big, bad demon? It's like one of Jiraiya-sama's kabuki plays!" the voice laughed again.

"Why are you here?" Itachi asked, his voice flat. "What do you want?"

"Oh?" the voice was insulted now. "Well, that was rude. All I want to do is congratulate you on your marriage! "

"What are you called?" Fugaku sneered. "If the demons who spawned you even bothered to give you a name."

The air went still, the slight breeze that had been blowing through the room stilling. The air felt heady with power, the demon youkai thicker than water. "You'll regret that, Uchiha." The voice said. It was serious, quiet. "I don't take kindly to people maligning the gods." Fugaku went a little stiff, the hand clenching his blade tightening. "This was just child's play, a little harmless chaos. No one was humiliated; no one was hurt, the wedding still happened. It could have been a lot worse. For example, I could have lit your greasy head on fire. I suppose your wife could continue to endure you, but between your personality and the fact she'd have to shut her eyes and try not to smell you, I don't think romance would be immediate in your future-"

"Silence!" Fugaku bellowed, slashing at one of the paper screens that enclosed the audience hall, forgetting his fear as anger overpowered him.

"What is your name?" Hinata spoke up for the first time, her voice muffled by the veil that obscured her face. "Please?"

"Hmph." The voice mumbled. "Hyuuga can be polite? I guess Kami left some room for improvement."

"Answer the question!" Fugaku yelled. "I'd like to know the name of my opponent before I strike his head from his body!"

"Keh. You? Kill me? Do you have any idea how out of your league I am? I'll going to make your life a living hell." The voice chuckled again, now lighthearted. "Don't you know its bad form to attract the attentions of a kitsune? I hear they enjoy mischief- and fire."

The air suddenly grew hot- Fugaku could feel himself break out into sweat- and heady, gravity pulling on them as they staggered around the hall. In front of them, between the samurai and the garden door, an apparition began to form. Orange and black flames swirled into existence, licking the tatami floors and leaving faint burn marks in their wake. The laughing face of a fox with a lolling tongue and eyes a bright pinprick of blue fire appeared before them, baring teeth made of smoke. It let out a laughing bark, one that echoed throughout the entire Castle, before winking out in a single blink.

All that was left was a black spiral, scorched into the floor.

* * *

The procession from the capital, Konoha, to the outlying Uchiha lands was a bit excessive, in Naruto's opinion. He lounged on a comfortable branch of a maple, high above the famous eyes of the Uchiha samurai, and stared down at his prey with interest. His tails, all nine of them, wrapped around his amber body like a comforting blanket, moving constantly around his head like a halo of fire.

Yawning, he stood onto all fours, stretching the way he'd seen the Cat demons do, relishing in the feel of his fur, skin, and bones setting into alignment. He licked his chops as he began to move among the trees, darting from branch to branch as he followed the Uchiha party. The dappled shadows from the forested Hi no Kuni played across his fur and warmed him.

It was a good day to be a kitsune.

In the distance, the sound of men cursing and horses lowing could be heard. Ears flicking towards the sound, he turned to look. From his vantage point, Naruto could see that one of the poles that supported Fugaku's palanquin had snapped, unbalancing the vehicle and dumping him into the gutter. Naruto let out a cough, a guttural rattle in his throat that still managed to sound very much like a human laugh, as Fugaku got to his feet, his robes stained with trash and refuse.

Keh.

This was only the beginning, Naruto promised himself gleefully. No one disrespected his Father, or his Mother, let alone some uppity mortal samurai. Naruto knew he'd stop short of killing the official- he was a being of immense power, but he wasn't quite _that_ bad- but he'd certainly do his best to make Fugaku wish he'd never offended the honor of Uzumaki Naruto.

Naruto's tails curled in delight. Pranking always put him in a positive mood- raining misfortune down upon the arrogant was a favorite pastime of his and he hadn't seen anyone as full of himself as Uchiha Fugaku for a long time.

* * *

After two long, laborious weeks through the mountainous backbone that separated Konoha from the traditional Uchiha fief, Uchiha Sasuke could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Below him, his family lands stretched before him like a comforting blanket- familiar and _home._

Sasuke would admit that the capitol had its merits. The entertainment, the red light district, the company… he nodded to himself. Konoha had its upsides, but he knew he'd always want to come back to where he grew up and where his family lived.

He took in a sharp breath, savoring the warm breeze that rose from the valley below… and almost fell from his horse when a sharp crack echoed up the pass walls from behind him. He turned around sharply, his hand already on his katana, when he caught sight of the disturbance. Behind him, a chunk of snow had fallen off of one of the high cliffs, half melted from the warmth of spring, disintegrating into powder as it fell like white rain. Sasuke would even admit it looked beautiful…

…until it managed to cover ten men in five feet of snow and mire one of the wagons, rendering it incapable of movement.

Sasuke groaned, scowling at a few of the servants who stood around stupidly, snickering as the regal Uchiha were taken down a peg. "Go on!" he barked, pointing at the snow bank that had so kindly deposited itself on the Uchiha precession. The servants jumped, their faces contorting from amusement to anxiety as they scurried around for shovels.

"Sasuke!" The shout rang, echoing much like the crack of the dislodged snow, up and down the canyon.

Sasuke's face immediately smoothed into an impassive mask, something that didn't falter as he turned. "Chichi-ue?" Sasuke asked, bringing his horse around to face his father. "How can I help you?"

"What is the delay?" Fugaku demanded, his sharp voice causing his stallion to shift nervously. Over the past two weeks, the constant delays and the almost fatal accidents had worn on his face, carving deep lines into his forehead and cheeks. His hair was beginning to grey at the temples, something that only seemed to add to his growing list of worries.

Sasuke gestured to the fallen snow. "The snow melted- it fell onto the caravan."

Fugaku snorted. "Just like the rockslide back at the entrance to the pass and the flood that swept an entire load of supplies away." He scoffed, and for a second, Sasuke could see that disappointment in his Fathers eyes, again.

_Itachi could have stopped it_; he knew his Father was thinking. _Itachi is a genius, a born leader._

Sasuke's fists tightened, frustration mounting as his father whirled his horse away to trot down the mountain path towards the clan complex.

Suddenly, Sasuke wasn't so keen on going home.


	24. Chapter 24: Preliminaries: I

A plausible explanation to how Sakura would beat Sasuke in the Chuunin preliminaries; using nothing but basic jutsu.

* * *

Sakura didn't know what to think when the preliminary board finally stopped on two names; Sakura Haruno vs. Sasuke Uchiha.

She gulped, her mouth dry. To her left she could see Naruto's worried face; worry for her or Sasuke she didn't know. To her right… Sasuke's face was impassive but Sakura knew him well enough to see the lines of arrogance in his face and body language.

"Will both fighters please come down into the arena?" the referee, Hayate, coughed, waving them down with one grayish hand, covering his mouth with the other.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, turning to make his way down the stairs. Sakura opted to jump down over the railing- she really didn't want to walk past her peers (Ino) right now.

They took their places across from each other; Sakura in a tense stance, her hands twitching, Sasuke was relaxed, bored almost, with his hands in his pockets.

"Such disrespect…" Sakura could hear Guy stage whisper to Kakashi (which basically meant everyone in the room could hear it).

"Aa." Kakashi mumbled in agreement, peering over the top of his ever present book to look down at his students.

"Are you both ready?" Hayate asked, looking from boy to girl.

Sasuke nodded lazily, bored with the proceedings already and Sakura nodded after a moment's hesitation.

Was she ready?

This was _Sasuke-kun. _Rookie of the year, the last Uchiha… long-time crush… should she just give up? Give her place in the tournament to Sasuke, her chance of advancement?

"Go Sakura-chan, kick his ass!" Naruto's voice crowed from the balcony, making her lips twitch. Only Naruto would expect Sakura to kick the best all-around genin's ass. If she just gave up now… would she ever be able to look Naruto in the face again? Or Ino? For a boy who probably wouldn't even say thank you?

"Hajime!"

There was not time to wonder at her decision; Sakura was forced to duck a vicious kick aimed at her head and stumble backwards to avoid a knock-out punch to her solar plexus.

"Just give up Sakura." Sasuke said, smirking. "Face it, you can't win here. You barely know any jutsu other than the three you graduated with." He attempted to sweep her feet out from under her, missing her ankles by inches.

_Damn it, he's right. _Sakura thought furiously as she ducked and dodged. _On top of that, he's the best in out class when it comes to ninjustu and above average in taijutsu. I'll be beaten to a pulp before even get close! He's got clan techniques, the Sharingan- what do I have?_

She felt at her pouch, pleased to find at least ten shuriken and three kunai tucked away- at least half of her original stock.

_Alright. Plan, I need a plan._

* * *

Despite appearance, Naruto was not stupid. He was oblivious to a lot of social nuances, yeah, but not stupid. Actually, Naruto prided himself on being rather good at observing people.

For example, Sasuke was in a lot of pain right now, which is why he was trying his hardest to land a blow on Sakura and end the fight quickly. Which he was having a bit of a problem with, actually.

Sakura may not have been strong physically, but she could be agile and flexible- which was why she had been able to slip around Sasuke's attacks.

But she hadn't been able to launch an offensive, or even get a good counter-strike in to knock Sasuke off balance.

"She won't win, Naruto." Kakashi's voice was soft. "Sasuke's just too good."

Naruto turned around to glare at his sensei, fury igniting at his calm dismissal of one of his students. "You know Kakashi-sensei," he said, his voice full of venom. "If you'd sat her down and _taught _her something maybe you wouldn't be saying that. Sasuke wasn't kidding _when_ he said she only knew three academy jutsu and one she _had to learn herself."_

Kakashi blinked. "What-?"

"You'll see." Naruto said shortly. "Sakura-chan's got that look on her face; either she's really mad, or she's thinking of a plan."

_I really hope she's thinking of a plan._

* * *

"Enough of this." Sasuke stated, his hands whisking through seals. "**Katon: Phoenix Flower no Justu!"**

The small balls of chakra fed fire roared at her with speeds that would've tested a seasoned Chuunin. Panicked, she ducked and dodged and weaved- knowing that cutting it too close would still burn.

"Shit!" She cursed when Sasuke managed to clip her in the side, sending her sprawling to the ground in an undignified heap._"_Geez," she wheezed as she tried to get her breath back. "that smarts." She felt at her wound, grimacing as she felt that the material of her shirt had melted into the already blackened skin. Right now, as she ran on adrenaline, she couldn't feel much but numbness but soon… then Sasuke was on her, smashing his fist into her cheek, sending her flying against the wall of the arena. Sakura felt something pop and gasped at the sharp pain- coughing up blood as she did so. At best, her rib had only nicked her lung, at worst she would start drowning in her own blood in a few minutes.

All of the spectators winced at the loud slap of flesh hitting concrete. Only Kakashi seemed unmoved, but most of his face was obscured, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking unless he wanted you to know about it.

"Give up, Sakura." Sasuke's voice was flat. "I'm doing you a favor. No one else here has any patience for a girl playing at being a ninja- if you move on, you'll be killed." He walked over slowly, his sandals tapping on the floor as he moved through the absolute silence.

"N-no." Sakura wheezed, blood bubbling out of the corner of her mouth.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and a vein worked in his temple. "I'm giving you a chance to back out gracefully, Sakura. This isn't a game. This is real life."

"I-" her side throbbed again. "I… you know what?" her temper was up now, anger sending a rush through her body. "I've wasted my entire childhood on you, tried to be a good teammate- only to have it shoved in my face." She took a deep shuddering breath, gritting her teeth as she struggled to her feet.

"Go to hell." Her grim face was replaced by the clatter of a kunai as it fell to the floor and the tale telling puff of smoke that went with it.

"Replacement." Sasuke snarled, whirling around to deliver a haymaker to what he supposed was the real Sakura Haruno… only for his fist to go right through her chin and disappear. "Bunshin?"

His only warning was the sound of a henge being released behind him before he whirled around, his hands in a defensive position.

"Gah!" he yelped, eyes watering as two kunai entered his hands, grating against the bone as they pieced skin and muscle to protrude through the other side. Blood oozed down his forearm in streams- much more blood than he would expect from such wounds.

Sakura, though sickened, was determined. She gave them an extra twist- wincing at Sasku's pained grunt- before backing off, mission accomplished. Without his hands, Sasuke's taijutsu was limited and his ninjutsu would be nonexistent.

She'd just evened the odds.

* * *

"Whoa." Naruto mumbled, his eyes wide. "Sakura-chan can be scary." He looked to his neighbor, Shikamaru for agreement.

"Troublesome." The Nara sighed as he slouched. "Why is every kunoichi in our graduating class so…" he sighed again, not bothering to finish his own sentence.

Kakashi nodded to himself, mentally re-evaluating his student. "She used henge to make it look like she'd used a replacement… then used a bunshin to get Sasuke to show his back, giving her an opening." _If her release had been a little quieter… she could have ended it right there. As it is… she's given herself a fighting chance. Ninjustu is completely out of the question for him now, so all she has to deal with is taijutsu._

He hummed to himself, guilt settling in his chest. _I'd probably be a little less worried if I _did _teach her something._

* * *

Sasuke grit his teeth against the pain radiating from his palms. Who knew that having kunai shoved through your hands would hurt so much?

And make the match look a lot harder to win?

"I need to finish this now." He muttered, activating his Sharingan. The world snapped into clearer focus; he grinned. This would end here.

Sakura swore, loudly and uncharacteristically at the sight of Sasuke's dojutsu. She knew he wasn't very proficient in its use yet; only being able to see things clearer and copy techniques. Good thing for her he hadn't obtained the ability to see through genjutsu or anticipate her moves yet or she'd really be screwed.

"Aright, alright…" she mumbled, backing away to keep some distance between Sasuke and herself. "I need a new plan. New plan-" she yelped when Sasuke seemed to appear in front of her, foot held high for an axe kick that would probably break her neck if she let it hit. She dove to the side, sending three of her shuriken toward him as she landed, forcing him to dodge instead of pursuing her and finishing her off.

"Plan, plan, plan…" she thought frantically. She had seven shuriken, four kunai- that was it. Three jutsu, plus the genjustu she'd looked up in Konoha's genin library. How could she fit it all together?

She needed some time!

* * *

Sasuke smiled grimly as he looked at Sakura. She was standing there, a brave look on her face. He smirked, his Sharingan eyes taking in the tremble in her knees and the tremors in her hands as she clutched the kunai she held in front of her tightly.

She was scared of him.

Was this the power Orochimaru had spoken of? The power to make people fear him? If so… he kind of liked it.

"Give up now, Sakura." He said, stepping towards her. "I promise I won't hurt you. It's your last chance."

Sakura's face turned to stone before his eyes. Her trembling stopped and she looked liable to spit in his direction. "Do your worst."

Sasuke cocked his head. "Alright." He could feel the malevolent chakra flow through his body, rejuvenating his body.

He was on her. His kicks splintered bone, and his punches bruised organs. Sasuke's sweep fractured her ankles and his haymaker crushed her jaw. His axe kick fractured her skull and his punch broke her nose. Blood dripped from his hands onto the floor.

When she fell, she was like a broken china doll. Shattered porcelain with no chance of reconstruction. Sakura Haruno was finished.

Except… Sasuke looked at his hands, wet with blood that wasn't his. Where were bloody holes where Sasuke had taken kunai to his hands? Where-

He whipped back to look at the fallen Sakura, only to see her standing upright again, good as new with her kunai held out in front of her.

What-?

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Genjutsu. Painstakingly, he placed his hands together- _now _he could feel the pain from those wounds- gathered his chakra and-

"KAI!"

The arena shimmered a little as the genjustu fell apart, melting into reality. He blinked, and his eyes widened to see Sakura sprinting towards him, a determined expression on her face. "SHANNARO!" she cried as she cocked back her fist, ready to slam it into his cheek-

Sasuke kicked out, expecting to send her flying across the room only for his foot to go through the bunshin that had been going for his face. He completely missed the real Sakura that had been moving in synch with her bunshin, using it as cover while she moved in low to deliver a kick to his leg, smashing his kneecap to piece, inverting the entire joint.

Sasuke heard and felt his knee snap before the pain radiated up his thigh, sending him toppling to the floor. His head cracked hard against the tile, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. He barely registered the cold metal at his neck or the referee call the match in Sakura's favor.

Sakura blinked, stumbling slightly as she followed the medics out of the arena. She made it. She _beat _the rookie of the year. Hysterical laughter built in her gut and she couldn't help the muffled giggles that escaped her, even when the shaking prodded her broken body into reminding her that she was injured and she needed to lie down.

Before she sagged onto a nearby cot, she took a second to remember the taste of her hard won victory. For once, it was something that was all hers. No teammates to help her, no sensei to step in… she'd taken on a fellow ninja and proved herself worthy.

She smiled, even as the medics forced a syringe into her arm and carted her into the fully stocked OR that the Forest of Death Tower offered to fix her punctured lung.

At last, she was walking side by side with her teammates, not behind.

* * *

I know some people will be like: Wut? No way! Sakura lieks Sasuke-kun!

I know. I am ignoring canon and creating my own world. In this world, Sakura keeps her promises to herself and actually uses her mind, not her emotions. Again, it is a realm of possibilities; it makes me a writer.


	25. Chapter 25: New Year: I

The New Year festival was in full swing. Confetti fell like rain, twirling and spinning as it fell through the air. Fireworks lit the sky, the acrid smoke from their fuses mingling with the scent of sandalwood incense and tobacco smoke.

Children grinned and screamed along with the crowd atop their father's shoulders, delighting in the stalls of games and entertainment that lined the town's central road. Lanterns, strung on wire by the thousands, lit up the city like fireflies- their light flickering, but comforting.

In the Red Light district, sake flowed like water. Men and women, their laughter loud and full of the euphoria of the New Year gambled their money away at the slots and card tables, too drunk to care. Whores and courtesans lined the road, picking out the most inebriated and insensible of men to service, knowing that, at the end, they could take a few thousand more yen than their usual price.

Dancers threw themselves into their steps; traditional Kabuki performed next to contemporary Western- a juxtaposition of culture that pleased the crowds that ebbed and flowed from one entertainment to the next. Jugglers and gypsies vied for prime positions for their talents, struggling with the sword swallowers and fire eaters that clogged the streets.

Otafuku Gai was in revel.

Eyes, cat green, stared out at the partiers, her skilled eyes skipping from inebriated man to tipsy women- searching out her next prey. Thin, slender fingers supported by strong wrists peeped into the light cast by the street, out of the shadow of the alley.

A surgeon's hands, someone had told her.

Sakura snorted as she blew a stray piece of her bright pink hair out of her eyes- it was chopped to just below her ears- and scorned the foolish victim who'd admired her even as she'd robbed him blind. As if a street thief could _ever _be a _surgeon. _She continued to sweep the patrons of the street, any guilt smothered over a veneer of professionalism. She'd been in this trade too long and couldn't afford to feel mercy to her victims. Besides, she thought to herself, if they could spend money on prostitutes and booze then their families weren't exactly starving, were they?

_You don't know that, _a semi-familiar voice whispered from the back of her mind. Sakura scowled, her conscience, a meeker, smaller, much more polite part of herself liked to make itself known in these situations. _They could have just been passing through, on their way to give their money to their poor families-_

Sakura abruptly stopped listening, scowling harder, if that was possible. Her Inner, as Sakura referred to her, was a pansy in every sense of the word and Sakura didn't exactly enjoy talking to the voice in her head that sounded like a timid mouse in comparison to her normal, brusque, unsympathetic nature. She didn't have the luxury of high morals and she didn't need to explain survival to _herself._

It smacked of schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder anyways. Sakura was a lot of things, but definitely not a crazy.

Her eyes continued to pick out likely victims, a reflex, despite her inner thoughts. Selecting and discarding, looking for the victim that was just tipsy enough to be stupid, but not enough that they drew attention. It wasn't easy; however, seeing as everyone was slightly inebriated. At the very least they were tipsy, and the heavy drinkers were passed out in the gutters, already picked over by the scavengers of Sakura's profession. She frowned slightly, noting that it was getting late- she had to hurry. She eyed a drunken man who had promise- only to turn away when she saw the outline of a _daishō_, the katana and wakizashi of the samurai class, under his cloak.

Samurai were violent, she knew, especially when drunk. She pressed a hand to her stomach, where a long ropy scar traced its way all the way across the sunken plane of her abdomen, just below her belly button. She'd been lucky, she knew. The samurai who'd wounded her had been too drunk to swing effectively- resulting in a scar when in reality she should have been cut in half, or at least disemboweled.

She winced at the memory of that blinding pain. It had taken months for the scar tissue to form- weeks on barely any food, unable as she was to steal for herself. It had been some of the darkest months of her life- always fearing that she'd be mugged while she was helpless or her wound would become infected and she'd die, swallowed in fever and incomprehensible hallucinations. It had been the best day of her life when her fever had broken and she'd slowly recuperated.

Since then she'd given the warrior class a wide berth- including the ninja who were hired by the daimyo to eliminate the thieves every few years. So far she hadn't been caught, but she knew that as she grew older- she was only a mere ten summers- it'd get harder and harder for her to get by on pocket change. Soon she'd be forced to start escalating to robbing houses and stores. After that, she knew that it was almost certain she'd be caught and hung.

It was a dark truth she'd known since she'd been left alone on the streets in her seventh year by a family too large to feed itself. Knowing one's death was certain lent a certain gallows humor to her countenance- one that her fellow thieves could relate to. They knew they were living on time borrowed from the Shinigami as well; it was a particularly badly kept secret.

So she was alone. And hungry, she mused, cradling her stomach as it rumbled. She really needed to stop all this self-examination, it couldn't be healthy…

There! Sakura zeroed in on a women stumbling down the street- blond, busty, and totally smashed. A small purse dangled from her hip, loosely tied, from what Sakura could see. Breaking her cover, Sakura meandered over, nonchalantly matching the older women's gait- taking in the smaller details she'd missed from the shadows of the alley. She could definitely tell that the women was a gambler- her green jacket with the word embroidered on the back was a dead giveaway- and that meant loose cash, at the very least. Sakura carefully maneuvered herself slightly back and diagonal from the women's hip pouch, noting that the ties were indeed loose enough that Sakura estimated she could grab the money and break left, back into the safety of the slums. She really doubted a woman, especially one with such- ahem- _assets_ as these, no matter how drunk, would wander _there_ for a few coins stolen by a petty thief.

Sakura took a breath, releasing it smoothly- show time. With a burst of speed, Sakura surged forward, catching the woman as she went around a corner, yanking the purse so hard that the leather pouch straps snapped cleanly. Sakura continued straight, knowing that she'd at least have a few seconds before the lady managed to recover from being caught flatfooted and sounded the alarm. She concentrated all her will on forcing herself to go faster, spinning on a dime to avoid the throngs of people that clumped in the middle of the street. She ignored the cries of outrage as she shoved or knocked them over, still pressing her body into a more streamlined shape- one that she'd seen the shinobi use as they'd traversed from building to building. She was meters from freedom- five; four- avoid the spatter of vomit and the groaning drunk- three- two-

Freedom!

Sakura skidded into an alley, her ratty sandals catching slightly on the rough dirt- plowing through a couple of scruffy looking kids just off the street- and dashed into the shadows. She continued on, ignoring their curses and oaths, determined to make herself scarce deep in the heart of Otafuku Gai's slums.

The thief ran on- running until her breath rasped in her throat and her feet ached from pounding on the hard packed dirt. She flew by, dodging the ragged homeless tucked into the recessed doorways that dotted the winding backstreets, hurtling over the piles of trash and waste that piled against stained walls. Farther and farther she ran, until she found herself in a small, dingy courtyard.

The windows were shuttered and closed, the doors barred with heavy wooden beams nailed crossways to keep out the homeless. Graffiti and trash littered the little plaza, the hard packed earth dotted with clumps of weeds and grass.

Sakura grinned, relaxing slightly. Home- the safest place she knew.

She plopped herself on the ground, not bothering to enter the small hole she'd made to get into the abandoned complex. She was enjoying the night far too much for that- it was crisp and not too cold, a boon for someone who had to make do with holey woolen sweaters and pants a little too ragged to be unnoticeable to the general public.

It was troublesome.

But, worries could wait for later, for now… Sakura greedily pulled out the purse- ripping it open and dumping the contents on the ground in front of her, ignoring the coat of dust that rose to coat them.

"One hundred… two hundred…" she murmured as she slowly counted out the coins. There was at least enough to buy a new jacket for the freezing months to come…

"Aiiiiieeee!" Sakura yelped as she threw herself to the side, scooping up the coins as she moved, barely avoiding the fist that impacted where her head used to be.

She looked up, terrified. The furious face of the women she'd robbed, the blonde one, looked back at her.

"Give me my money girl."


	26. Chapter 26: Time Skip: III

Kiba scowled as he caught a whiff of the Haruno girl's scent.

_Why don't you like her? _Akamaru yapped as he trotted alongside his master. _She's nice._

"I just… don't, okay?" he growled, sticking his hands into his pockets.

_You don't like that she's replaced Hinata. _Akamaru cut straight to the heart of the matter, giving his master a look that the young man could only assume had been learned from his mother.

"That too." Kiba muttered as he came up on the Team 8 clearing. "And she doesn't seem to know _anything_." In fact, it was rather sad. She was just as bad as he'd feared- almost completely useless. She had above average stealth, especially now that she'd gotten rid of that godawful dress, but that didn't help when his nose could easily pick her scent up at fifty paces.

He fixed his scowl back onto his face, breaking through the tree line. He was early, actually (he was usually the last one before Kurenai-sensei arrived) and he wasn't surprised when he saw that familiar (annoying) shock of pink hair.

"Haruno-" Kiba froze at the same time that Sakura whipped around.

She was covered from head to foot in bruises- concentrating on her arms and sides for the most part. The glow of healing chakra on his hand flickered out in surprise.

"What happened?" Kiba demanded, stomping up to her. Rage radiated from him in waves, making even Akamaru's fur bristle a little.

"Training." Sakura muttered, resuming her healing.

"Bullshit!" Kiba yelled, reaching forward to stop her from applying the jutsu. "This isn't training; someone's beating the crap out of you!"

"So?" Sakur shot back, shooting to her feet. "You don't care! You've mentioned _several times _that I'm not a part of this team. You don't have the right!"

Kiba gulped, guilt on his face. "Yeah, but-"

"Who could forget," Sakura sneered. "'Don't thank me,'" she parroted. "'I'm just keeping you alive until we get Hinata back. After, you can go drag some other team down with you.' Isn't that what you said?"

Kiba actually physically flinched. They'd gone on a C-rank escort mission the first week she'd been assigned to them. While she'd managed to hold her own for a while against a group of bandits, one had broken through her genjutsu and Kiba had been forced to intercept the hit. When she'd attempted to bandage it after the enemy were dispatched he'd been... less than understanding. "Yes, but-"

"Shut up!" Kiba slammed his mouth shut. He'd usually stand up for himself and cuss back but in this case his instincts were screaming _alpha female_. "I'm trying the best I can you ! I'm a civilian kid you **asshole**! I wasn't born with some fancy clan techniques or bloodline. Hell, I didn't even have any teachers who taught me anything and I sure as hell didn't have teammates who stuck by me either. So do me a favor and go-_!"_

What followed afterward was a torrent of the most foul words Kiba had ever heard, suggesting he go do something that was in all probability physically and mentally damaging and considered morally wrong to do to an animal in most countries. Through his humiliation he allowed a note of relief that the kunoichi kept Akamaru out of it- something the smug little dog seemed to be aware of as he was calmly lying down at Sakura's feet and laughing that raspy dog laugh that Kiba _hated._

_"-_and furthurmore-"

"Sakura!"

Sakura froze, mid-rant. She gulped and Kiba heaved a sigh of relief at the face of his saviour. "Kurenai-sensei..."

"What is the meaning of this?" the women barked, striding up to the two of them.

"Er-"

"I was-"

"I believe the yelling started when Kiba started questioning her methods of training." Shino said quietly from his silent position next to his sensei. "Why? Because Kiba called her dead weight."

Kurenai locked her red eyes on the both of them and they both simultaneously cringed at the heightened feeling of doom that fell on their shoulders.

"Well," she said in a dangeorus tone. "I believe I know what we're going to do today."


	27. Chapter 27: Conspiracy Theory: V

They were six months out from Konoha and they had developed something of a … routine. Roles that each of them would play in their little two man troupe of outlawery.

Naruto found that Sakura was a natural pessimist. After the first week of whine and moan- mostly about Sasuke- she had found a niche where she could get things done with a minimum of fuss. A realist, she called herself.

Optimism was Naruto's thing. When they were too hungry to sleep, he'd keep them both entertained with lame jokes, stories from his days running from the ANBU after various misdeeds, and his fondest memories of Iruka-sensei. Sakura would listen, smile (she stopped doing that after the second month, when- well, desperation makes you do things-) and they would pass the night away.

If it weren't for the layer of filth and constant state of near starvation, the closest thing he could compare it to was summer camp.


	28. Chapter 28: Regrets: I

Yay. Bleach crossover! Next one is a more Naruto centric one.

* * *

Sakura died on a bright, sunny morning in the middle of the summer.

She fell to her knees, her eyes blurring and refocusing. Confused, she gripped at the katana protruding from her chest, and up into the cruel black eyes of Uchiha Sasuke.

"…Sasuke-kun?" Her voice was weak- she coughed and aspirated blood foamed at her lips. Her former teammate's face was impassive. Her heart struggled to beat on, cutting itself on Sasuke's blade in a desperate struggle for life. It felt like poetry; her heart would bleed out by ordinance of her own will to survive.

"Aa." The shinobi said, setting his foot against her shoulder (didn't even bother to make sure there wasn't any dirt on his sandals), using the leverage to yank his sword out of her chest.

"A p-pleasure." Sakura managed, spitting up more blood and swaying. She could feel her chakra trying to desperately heal the gushing the spurted with every beat of her heart but Sakura knew with a medics professional opinion that she was going to die.

She was going to die at the age of twenty-three.

Not bad, she thought, for a jounin.

She wasn't Naruto, or heaven forbid, Sasuke. Sakura would never be a powerhouse, throwing around destructive S-ranked jutsu with the capability to tear her own arm off. She had been content with her little corner of mastery; it _felt_ good knowing that she could give life as well as take it. If not for the war, she'd have been happy to retire to the hospital and never go on another mission in the rest of her life. She'd have been happy to be mediocre, and _not care that she was going to die in the middle of a field at the hand of the man she'd been in love with-_

"Cheh, you can't even die right." Sasuke snorted after a few tense seconds of nothing but blood dripping slowly into the grass. He brought back his blade, this time for a chop at her neck.

Sakura, on her part, didn't seem particularly inclined to put up a struggle. As her blood leaked out of her, so did the amount she cared. She was woozy with apathy.

"Sakura-sensei!"

Sasuke's head swiveled so fast to the side that his neck cracked. Across the meadow, Sakura could make out three blurs, clad in the colors of her little squad. She imagined the distress on their faces- the blind and naked fear at the sight of their leader brought to her knees by a stranger. She could imagine the blood reflected in their eyes and hoped they knew enough to run.

"A genin team?" Sasuke's tone was flat. His stare turned back onto her defeated form. "Has the Hokage hat finally cut off all circulation to the dobe's brain?" He prodded her with his foot. "Weakness breeds weakness."

Sakura swayed a little more, almost toppling in a wave of dizziness. Her vision was tunneling now; she could only make out the barest hints of color, and everything was rapidly fading. She could feel his lips on her ear, whispering something she couldn't quite make out.

"…dead. I'll kill them."

"No…"

Sakura could already feel the cold arms of death. They were encircling her, dragging her from her body as her heart slowed, stuttered, stopped. She went to take a breath… and found her lungs disobeying her. They fell, she tottered forward… and fell silent to the grass.

Perhaps her regret, of not being _strong enough to save her own genin_, is what drew the Hollows to her.


	29. Chapter 29: Nomad: I

An ATLA-crossover, where Naruto is an air nomad and Sakura is a northern water tribeswoman. yay.

* * *

As soon as Naruto had mastered the most basic tenements of air gliding, he'd taken every opportunity to fly down the steep mountainsides of the Northern Air Temple and explore. He was chastised and punished of course; he didn't have his tattoos as proof of his adulthood and he was far from the most studious airbender, but that didn't stop Naruto from sneaking off as soon as the monk in charge of the uninitiated took his eyes off of him.

After all, Naruto was wearing bright orange robes. It's not like they'd have to look very far for him if he _was _in trouble.

Of course, there weren't really many places for Naruto to _go._ The land around the Northern Air Temple was mostly wilderness, inhabited by animals that could easily make a meal out of a clumsy airbender and spirits that, once upon a time, had been strong enough to manifest in the physical world. The water was just as deadly as the land; cold and icy enough to ensure a freezing death in a number of hours to anyone unfortunate enough to be downed over the sea.

But still, Naruto took every chance he could to get away. Mostly because of days like today.

"I failed _again_." Naruto muttered into his folded arms, looking out across the frigid ocean from his seat on one of the many glaciers that floated in the northern oceans. He rubbed his bald head, freshly shaven in anticipation of his air mastery tattoos. He snorted- why had he even bothered?

At fourteen years old, he knew he was one of the oldest uninitiated airbenders _ever_.

How pathetic.

The sad thing was that it wasn't necessarily his fault. All of the other young airbenders had naturally fallen in with one of the adults- an unofficial mentorship that was a stepping stone to their progression to the next level of their lives as full monks of the Order. Naruto had just been left out. It had taken him a while to see it, but he now noticed how he was subtly edged out of things. Air ball games no one bothered to invite him to, pai-sho tournaments that he learned about after the fact, trips to other Air Temples that were too full to accommodate him- if Naruto took a step back it was easy to see where a line had been drawn.

And he was _lonely_.

Naruto swallowed the ball in the back of his throat, gulping in cold air to ease the stinging in his eyes. He would not cry. Not even in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by icebergs , with not a single soul around for miles-

"Ahoy!"

Naruto jerked his head up at the sound of another voice, gaping like a fish at the sight of a girl all wrapped up in furs, waving at him from the seat of a small boat.

"Uh…"

"Are you okay?" the boat edged in closer, rocking dangerously the nearer it got to the iceberg. Naruto could see the girls face clearer now; pale for someone from the Water Tribe, but those teal eyes would look out of place on anyone else. "Do you need a ride somewhere?"

"Nah, I'm fine!" Naruto grinned, smiling hard enough to mask the tell-tale beginnings of tears in his eyes. He gestured to his orange robes and his glider, which was propped against the ice behind him.

Her eyes went wide. "Oh, you're one of the Air Nomads." She cocked her head at him. "I thought they were supposed to stay up in their temple until they got their-" she traced an arrow on her hood.

Naruto coughed, his cheeks slightly flushed. "Well, yeah-"

"So you're out here without permission?" the girl asked, smirking.

"Oh yeah? Well-" He cast around for an appropriate comeback. "what's a _girl_ doing out on the ocean by herself?"

This time it was the Water Tribe girl who sputtered for an answer. She finally settled on a scowl, mumbling something that Naruto couldn't catch. But he could sympathize.

"That kind of day?" He said sympathetically.

If anything, the girls scowl deepened. "Yeah, that kind of day." She sat back in her boat, her body naturally moving with the movement of the boat and the waves.

"Do you… do you wanna talk about it?" Naruto asked shyly. "I mean, it's perfectly fine if you don't, you know, because I just met you and I can be annoying sometimes even though I don't mean to. So you can tell me to buzz off if you think I'm being too pushy-"

"Sure."

Naruto stopped, staring at the girl in nothing short of amazement as she hopped from her little boat to the iceberg, tying it to the floating island with an icepick and a length of rope.

"So, what's your name?" she asked, pushing back her hood to uncover a head full of _pink_ hair of all things.

"Um… Naruto," He said. Naruto felt like his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. "of the Air Nomads."

She nodded. "Sakura of the Northern Water Tribe."

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

"Did you hear?" Sakura asked one day as they lazed on their iceberg. "Fire Lord Sozin authorized a new trading post on the coast." She traced a crack in the ice lazily with a gloved hand.

"Yeah, it's all the Elders will talk about." Naruto groused. Those stuffy old men were more worked up about the Fire Nation trading post at the foot of the mountain then anything Naruto could remember. He didn't know what they were worried about- it's not like anyone other than an airbender could get up those cliffs anyway.

"Same here." Sakura mumbled. Her father was a prosperous merchant who shipped furs around the world- most of what came out of his mouth was business. Business and boredom was better than the only other thing he talked about- arranging her marriage.

"…we should check it out."

Sakura blinked, and twisted to lock her incredulous eyes on Naruto's own mischievous ones. "Have you been drinking cactus juice?"

"Cactus juice?"

"What makes you think that's a good idea?" she continued, railroading over his confused question.

"Weeeell," Naruto drawled. "I've never met anyone from the Fire Nation, so I kinda want to."

"It takes all morning for me to get out here," Sakura gestured to her little kayak. "if I go all the way to the coast with you, I'll never make it back before supper." The '_and then my dad would kill me_' went unsaid.

"I can give you a ride." Naruto offered.

Sakura gave his air glider a sideways look. "Naruto, you're my best friend. This is why I know you won't be offended when I tell you _no way in hell_."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Right. Bad idea." It was then that he had a horrible, awesome, best idea ever. "Say, Sakura?"

She was instantly suspicious, wary of his innocent smile. "Yes?"

"Ever ridden a sky bison before?"

Xxxx

"NA-RU-TO!" Sakura screeched as the Air Nomad pulled another loop. "I swear to the souls of my ancestors, I will kill you when I get down from here!"

Naruto just laughed, giving the reins a subtle tug to ease the sky bison down out of the sky towards an empty meadow about half a mile from the half completed trading post. Then hit the ground with a gentle _whump_, sending up a little dust cloud.

"Thanks Pao Ling." Naruto grinned, giving the old bison a good rub behind her horns; just where she liked it best. "You might be an old girl, but you've still got it in you." Pao Ling _whuffed_ in agreement, ruffling the fringe of grey bison hair that hung in her rheumy eyes.

"Naruto, did you drag that poor bison out of retirement just to give us a ride?" Sakura said, her legs wobbling as she tried to get used to solid ground again.

"Well it's not like I have one of my own!" Naruto snapped, feeding the old bison an apple he had tucked in the folds of his robes.

It still stung; none of the bison with the exception of old Pao Ling would even let him ride on them. Sometimes, Naruto had the feeling that something was wrong with _him_…

"Um, should we go then?" Sakura asked awkwardly. She'd folded her heavy parka and winter things away, leaving her in loose leggings and blue tunic- basic Water Tribe attire.

"Whats that?" Naruto asked, curiosity overcoming his brief flash of bitterness.

"What? Oh, this?" Sakura fingered the circle embroidered on her lapel. "It's the symbol of my family. A crest, I guess, but we're not really important enough for it to mean anything." She shrugged. "It's just something that's on all my clothes." She jerked her head toward her parka. "Every Water Tribesmen has their family symbol at the throat of their parkas so that you can tell who is who, even when you can't see their faces."

"Convenient." Naruto said. He wondered what it would be like to have a real family. He imagined it would be like that when he finally managed to join the Order- everyone he met a brother or sister, loving him unconditionally…

"Hey Naruto, this was your idea. Let's get moving." Naruto shook himself, grinning at Sakura's excited face.

He gave Pao Ling one last pat on the nose before walking off into the forest, his best friend beside him.


	30. Chapter 30: Bench: II

First time I've updated in a while. I swear I'm not dead people. Now, I was looking over my reviews and saw that a lot of people wanted to see a continuation of Bench. Well, this is for all those people.

Enjoy!

* * *

Naruto was worried he broke Sakura-chan.

Being ignored by the kunoichi wasn't unusual—in fact that made up about 95% of their interaction—but she was almost utterly silent. She didn't fight with Ino over who would sit next to Sasuke-kun, she didn't loudly proclaim how much she hated Naruto…

She was quiet.

_This is weird._ Naruto thought, glancing over at his teammate for the umpteenth time. Her eyes were unfocused, and she was staring into the desk with an intensity that Naruto had never seen in her before. He was caught between worrying for his safety (she hadn't punished him for kissing her yet, so he was still on his guard) and hoping that maybe Sakura would go on a date with him now.

Naruto grinned, puffing his chest out a little. Maybe he could add Ninja Casanova to his list of titles…?

He looked over, catching Sakura's eye as she shook herself out of her stupor. Naruto watched with wonder as Sakura's face slowly filled with red—he grinned at her (more of a smile, really, not one of his blinding, masking grins) and watched as she ducked her head. Pink hair fell between them, and Naruto allowed himself a pat on the back.

Today was a good day.

* * *

Today was the worst day of Sakura's life.

Sakura was oscillating between rage and humiliation. She was a mess; she was probably breaking every rule her Academy instructors had impressed upon her.

_Rule # 25: A shinobi must never show emotion._

How dare he? How dare Naruto trick her like that—she didn't care how lovesick or pathetic Naruto made himself out to be, he didn't have the right to kiss her under false pretenses. She felt somewhat violated and betrayed by her own affections.

The fact that Naruto—Naruto of all people—was able to pass himself off as Sasuke to the point where Sakura had been willing to kiss him revealed some unpleasant truths. There were only two explanations; either Naruto was a good enough ninja that he could impersonate Sasuke to a tee, or Sakura had never known Sasuke very well in the first place.

Her Inner was making it very clear what camp she rested in. _It's not like you like Sasuke very much anyway. _Her own voice echoed snidely in her head. _You like the idea of him on your arm. You like the idea of someone more popular than you noticing you, like some sort of fairytale. That's what happened with Ino, wasn't it?_

Sakura made a distressed sound in her throat. No, that's not it at all-

_Don't lie. _Inner-Sakura snorted. _I'm you, remember? Better yet, I'm the better, more improved you. I'm stronger, faster, smarter—because I don't let anyone hold me down._

You exist in my mind, Sakura thought. If I had anyone in there to 'hold you down' I'd be diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder.

Sakura felt Inner-Sakura shrug. _Think what you like. All I know is that Sasuke has never been anything more than a bystander when people bully you. Doesn't that mean he agrees with them?_ Inner–Sakura let that thought sink in for a moment. _Why waste your time on someone with that clan mentality?_

"Sakura-san?" Sakura blinked, and looked up from the floor. Iruka-sensei was looking at her, concern wrinkling the scar across the bridge of his nose. She noticed that she was standing in the doorway of the classroom, blocking the way of the students behind her.

"A-aa." Sakura's neck flushed and she quickly made her way to the back of the classroom. She ignored the weird looks from her classmates and sat down in an empty seat near the corner. Sakura really wasn't in the mood to fight with Ino over a seat next to Sasuke.

Sakura scowled. Was she really so shaken up by a single kiss from a guy she didn't even like that much? Was she so desperate for attention that a single, physical sign that someone else liked her could cancel out three years of crushing on Sasuke-kun?

But things were a little different now. For instance, Naruto actually legitimately liked her. She'd always assumed it was his idea of a funny joke—a way of placating the bullies by publicly proclaiming his love for the weird, pink haired civilian girl, humiliating her in the process. It had worked too. Ami and her cronies had never picked on Naruto; they seemed to reserve their vitriol for Sakura alone.

It had been very easy to believe the worst of a boy her parents said was cruel and mean.

In fact, Sakura was at a bit of a loss. If she took all of her preconceived notions and stereotypes and threw them out, she realized she knew very little about Naruto. He liked ramen, wanted to be Hokage, was good at pranks- everyone knew this about naruto, no matter what they felt about him. He was just that loud. That left her with very little intel on how to interact with him. Somehow, berating him and beating him around the head seemed inappropriate now. Before he'd been a stalker of sorts, a distasteful tag-along that just wouldn't go away.

What was he now? Acquaintance, friend, significant other...?

Sakura glanced down the classroom toward the bright orange of Naruto's jumpsuit. Their eyes caught, and Sakura was mortified to feel blood rush into her cheeks.

Oh god, this was embarrassing-

Then Naruto smiled.

He didn't grin, all teeth and squinted eyes. It was a simple, small smile. Sakura ducked her head, her long hair falling to cover the crimson of her face.

Sakura decided she would very much like to know Naruto better.

* * *

Kakashi had never had a more awkward team in his life.

Really, he intended on citing it as a reason for failing them in his report to the Hokage later. If this silence went on any longer, he would kill one of them.

Probably the broody Uchiha.

"Uh, introduce yourselves, I guess."

Insert another awkward pause.

"Like what?" Finally, the pink one spoke up. Strange, Kakashi's dossier on her had said she was a bit of a chatterbox and a fangirl to boot. She was being oddly quiet and un-fangirly.

Curious.

"Oh, you know." Kakashi waved his hand. "Likes, dislikes, that sort of thing. Goals for the future, yadda yadda."

"Yatta!" Naruto yelled, leaping to his feet. He grinned, and Kakashi was amused to see that Naruto looked as genuinely happy as he acted. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen and Sakura-chan!" Naruto cut his eyes to his female teammate.

Oh, was she blushing? Kakashi smirked. Interesting. This was just like the plot of Icha Icha ANBU, when Miki and Reiko-

"-and I'm going to be the Hokage one day!"

"Is that so?" Kakashi blinked lazily, vaguely annoyed at being brought out his ruminations. "Next. You, pinky."

The kunoichi blinked. "Er- I'm Sakura Haruno. I, uh-" she cleared her throat. Her eyes flickered from her blond to her dark haired teammates. "I don't know."

"You don't know your hobbies, your likes, or your dislikes?" Kakashi made sure to sound as incredulous as possible in order to maximize embarrassment even as he noted her strange behavior.

Sakura colored, and shrugged.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Hmphf. He didn't like puzzles,and this team was turning into one big headache. What kind of genin team deviated from their Academy dossier's on graduation day?

Well, except for the Uchiha. He was almost disappointingly predictable.

Whatever. It wasn't like they were going to pass anyway.


	31. Chapter 31: Taken: I

At first, Sakura thinks it's a nightmare. She's the six year old child of two civilian parents only in her first year of the Konoha ninja academy; nothing but bad dreams has every rousted her out of beat at 3:00 A.M before.

"Mom?" she whispers into the dark, still half-asleep. What had woken her up-?

Moonlight streams through her window onto her carpet. The rectangle of light is silver against black shadows. Sakura's mouth dries, and she whimpers in real fear. Her heart is thudding in her ears, and she quivers in her bed and shivers beneath her covers.

"W-who's there?" And she knows that someone _is_. She knows that someone is there with the primordial knowledge that evolution has never effectively destroyed. She knows like prey preparing to bolt from a predator that is inescapable.

The last thing Sakura seees is a shadow. It's face is capped with a bone-white painted face curving into a mockery of a smile. She screams and screams and screams- but nobody comes and she falls silent with a rush of wind and the sound of the world falling on her head.


	32. Chapter 32: Nothing: I

This is actually a really long chapter. This idea just couldn't let me be. There are some drastic changes in the Naruto universe that won't fully be explained until later installments. Just bear with me, okay? I promise I won't leave you hanging.

In other news, I received an offer to write for a naruto ninja RPG website... I'm not sure if it's legit or not and I would rather they not steal all of my money over the internet so if someone could tell me more about them, that'd be great... I think they're called or something. I know their on facebook, but honestly anyone can make a facebook page so I'm taking everything with a grain of salt.

PM me if you can.

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

_Also, the f-bomb gets dropped in here a bit. If you're bothered by that you can skip it I guess._

* * *

Naruto grinned, propping his feet up on his desk. He stretched, a pleased purr erupting out of the back of his throat, and put his arms behind his head. His hiteate shone on his head, the leaf symbol polished to a bright shine. He was a ninja, and damn it felt good! One step closer to Hokage and one step closer to all his dreams coming true!

Naruto frowned, going back through his thoughts. _All his dreams coming true?_ He sounded like a girl when he said that! Whatever- he was too cool to worry about that kind of girl stuff.

Well, not _all_ kinds of 'girl' stuff.

"Eh- Ino-chan!" Naruto perked up as the object of his affections trooped into the classroom. He dragged his feet off the desk and stood up so fast he nearly lost his balance. "Ino-chan!" He ignored the titters throughout the class and focused on his crush's face. Aw, was she blushing-?

Ino scowled up at him, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "What."

"Do you wanna sit by me? And maybe go eat lunch later?" Naruto flashed her a thumbs up. "I have ramen coupons!"

"No, you idiot!" Ino snarled. A vein was throbbing in her temple (_So cute,_ Naruto thought) and her face was flushed with rage. "I would rather die than go on a date with you!"

"Aw come on-"

"No!" Ino sent him one last contemptuous look before she turned on her heel to wade through a legion of lesser fangirls and claim her spot by her beloved Sasuke-kun.

Naruto sighed. Rejected. Again. But hey! He perked up. He was a genin now. A real ninja. Now that he had the rank, it was only a matter of time until he dazzled his fellow blond with his amazing techniques and fighting ability. Naruto nodded to himself. Ino had always been attracted to Sasuke because he was number one in the class. Well they weren't in the classroom anymore and it was only a matter of time before he showed her how awesomely attractive and manly he was-

"Naruto, sit the hell down!"

Naruto blinked. Iruka sensei was looking at him with that huge tickmark working under his eye again. 'What!"

"Sit down!"

Oh. Naruto looked around and saw that he was the last standing. "Heh. Sorry sensei!"

"Yes, well." Iruka coughed, bringing everyone's attention back to the front of the classroom. "Now, for the team assignments. These configurations have been specially chosen by the Hokage, so don't think you can trade if you don't like the people you've been grouped with- I'm talking to you, Naruto."

"Got it, geez." Naruto mumbled, resting his chin on his folded arms.

"These are the people who'll be watching your back until you attain chuunin rank. You trust them with your lives and they trust you with yours. Above all the other villages, Konoha has always had the strongest bonds between comrades and that gives us an edge over other shinobi who rely only on themselves." Iruka nodded to the grave faces of the newly promoted genin. "I wish you the best of luck. It's been an honor teaching all of you."

"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for." Iruka smiled, the scar on his face crinkling. "Team assignments."

"Woohooo!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air. The rest of his classmates made other, more subtle signs of their excitement. Even the normally unflappable Sasuke Uchiha sat forward a little in his seat.

"Alright, Team 1-"

The wait for his name was torturous. Naruto fidgeted. It was even more impossible to sit still normal. Ugh, he just knew old man Hokage put him last to get him back for the Oiroke no Jutsu trick he pulled yesterday. Man, he must have rattled the old man bad if the Hokage was stooping to getting back at him this way.

"The members of Team 7 are Naruto Uzumaki..." Naruto's head whipped to face the front of the classroom so fast he probably pulled something in his neck. "...Sasuke Uchiha..." His forehead hit the desk with a thunk that echoed through the classroom. Of all the guys in the class, it had to be _him_? Of all the- Old Man Hokage had done some cruel things to punish him for pranks before (The Hokage Monument stunt had gotten him cut off from ramen for a week. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.) but this took the cake.

But... maybe he'd get Ino-chan as a teammate. That would make all of this worth it!

"...and Sakura."

Naruto groaned. No Ino-chan. Just some random kunoichi he'd never heard of. Was there even a Sakura in his class? What kind of weirdo didn't have a last name? Even _he _had a last name.

Naruto scowled. "This blows." he muttered

"Oh, Sasuke-kun," Naruto ground his teeth at Ino's saccharine tone. His foul mood got even blacker, if possible. "I'm so sorry. The dead last and the traitor? Let me kiss it better-"

"Ino-chan." Iruka's voice was harsh. The Yamanaka flinched, then pouted. She slouched back into her seat with an adorably unhappy look on her face. "What? It's true."

"What's true?" Naruto asked, his curiosity piqued. Traitor? He thought he heard the word traitor. Like, as in a traitor to the village like Mizuki? 'Cause Naruto had a track record for beating the crap out of traitors and if Ino-chan knew about it, maybe he could impress her by laying down some ninja style whoop-ass-

"Nothing." Iruka said, fixing Naruto with one of his no-nonsense looks. Iruka-sensei's eyes flicked up to the rows behind Naruto where he smiled and nodded at someone, before he turned back to the rest of the class.

Naruto craned his neck to look up and behind him, but he couldn't pick anyone out. Weird.

"Now, your sensei should be by to pick you up after lunch so make sure you get back on time. Jounin sensei are not above leaving you behind in order to teach you a lesson on punctuality." Now Iruka grinned up at all his students, who eagerly matched their sensei with smiles of their own. Well, except for Sasuke, who just smirked.

"Welcome to the Konoha Ninja Corps!"

* * *

Naruto dragged his heels on his way back to the classroom, his hands thrust deep into the pockets of his orange jumpsuit. He really didn't want to meet up with his team.

Man, this was supposed to be the best day ever. Genin orientation was supposed to be when he got a cool team who would be, ya' know, team-like. He knew that Sasuke would rather die than be helped or help someone he considered 'dead last' and had a piss-poor attitude to boot. The prick wouldn't have known a joke if it stripped and ran naked in front of him.

He didn't know this Sakura girl, but that in itself mean something. He was choosing to make it negative.

Naruto sighed, dropping down on a bench along the path. He could see the Academy in the distance and he had about twenty minutes to kill. He didn't really want to loiter around the classroom longer than he had to. It was a matter of principle.

"Where ya' goin' traitor?"

Naruto perked up, confused. Did he hear something? He looked up and down the road. Nope. Nothing. He looked over his shoulder, peering into the woods. Huh. Must've been a figment of his imagination or somethin'.

The wind picked up, and Naruto closed his eyes, content to laze in the sunshine. He'd been so busy being awesome lately, he hadn't really had a chance to nap or sit around doing nothing. Maybe it was time he caught up on that. Naruto smirked. Iruka was always getting on him about procrastinating, I think he'd be especially proud that Naruto was taking the initiative.

"...aw, are you gonna cry now little girl?"

Naruto's eyes popped open and he jumped to his feet. He _knew_ he wasn't hearing things! What had once been indistinct whispers were now clear as day, carried by the wind to his ears. He followed the voices (two boys, two girls and someone who wasn't talking at all), using all of the skills he had accumulated over his pranking days to approach unnoticed.

He looked down from his perch in a tall Konoha oak into a small clearing. He was pleased to note that his initial assumptions had been correct. A gang of girls and boys had cornered someone against an impassable thicket of bamboo. At least three of them were ninja and the lone civilian looked like he'd received some rudimentary training in martial arts.

"Fuck off Ami." The victim snarled. He wore his own hitaeate on a blue bandanna. Naruto could see the shine of blood on his face.

"Yeah, you wish." the ring leader, whose name was apparently Ami, sniffed. She stepped forward, cellophane crackling as she stomped on what looked like a half eaten lunch, twisting her foot to turn the onigiri into unedible mush. "Oops." she simpered.

Bandanna-guy lurched forward, kicking the legs out from one of the bullies with a hitaeate, and decking the other with a punch that knocked him clean off his feet. He whirled around, ready to tackle the other two, but the unnamed kunoichi was there first and slammed her knee into Bandanna-guy's solar plexus. He went down wheezing.

"You'll pay for that." Ami snarled, dragging the winded Bandanna-guy up by the collar of his jacket. She shoved him backwards into the waiting arms of two of her cronies, one of which was still wincing and cradling his jaw from the haymaker that had sent him into the dirt. They each took an arm, twisting until Bandanna-guy yelled in pain.

"Now repeat after me." Ami drawled. From the sidelines, a mean looking girl sniggered, clearly enjoying this. "I am a traitor."

"Fuck you."

"Wrong answer." Ami said. She punched Bandanna-guy in the face- hard. Bandanna-guy's head lolled on his shoulders for a second, but he recovered quickly.

"What was that?" He snarked, in a derisive tone that Naruto could hear from his perch. "My civilian grandma could punch better than that."

"Don't you dare compare me to anyone in your family!" Ami shrieked, landing two more hard hits to Bandanna-guy's stomach and cheek respectively. "Don't. You. Dare." She punctuated every word with another punch.

"Hey!" Naruto lurched forward out of the trees. He'd been too shocked at the sudden violence to step in before, but he'd give up his dream of becoming Hokage before he'd let someone get whaled on when they couldn't defend themselves. "Hey, stop!" All of the bullies looked over their shoulder, distracted for a second-

The shinobi being picked on didn't wait. His foot lashed out, viciously kicking at he knee of the boy holding him on his right. With a cry, he was released, his captor staggering back. The bully was clutching his knee in obvious pain, but Naruto couldn't find it in himself to care. He sprinted across the clearing as fast as he could.

"Uzumaki Naturo saves the day!" he yelled, tackling the kunoichi who was grappling with a half-freed Bandanna-guy. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the other two limping away into the woods. "Oh no you don't!" He yelled. He wasn't going to let them go until they got the beating of their lives. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten Naruto's burst into existence and split up to track their prey.

He pretended he wasn't pleased when their shrillish cries for mercy floated like music to his ears.

Naruto turned around just in time for him to see Bandanna-guy slam his fist into the face of the Ami girl. She dropped like a stone, crying and cradling her bleeding nose. Neither of them stopped her when she turned tail and ran into the woods.

"Wow, that was pretty great Bandanna-guy!" Naruto exclaimed, still bouncing a little from the adrenalin high. "Did you see that? I was all 'Stop!' and you were like 'Fuck you' and together, we kicked ass!" He pointed out over the tree line. "You hear that! Next time you wanna bully someone, Naruto Uzumaki and Bandanna-guy will beat you down. Believe it!"

"You're weird." Naruto deflated. He turned to disagree- he had, after all, saved this guy from a beat down- but stopped short. His eyes widened. His words were stuck in his throat.

"What?" Bandanna-guy asked defensively.

"You're... you're..." Naruto's brain stalled.

"I'm _what?_"

"You're a girl!" Naruto sputtered. How had he not seen it before? Well... maybe he could be excused this one time. The girl was vicious looking. She looked like a thug- the complete opposite of every girl he'd ever interacted with. She was certainly the opposite of his precious Ino-chan. Her hitaeate bandanna was pulled down low over her eyes, making her look perpetually pissed off. Her clothes were rough and shoddy- almost as threadbare as his own jumpsuits. But where his were orange and awesome, her thin jacket was the color of dust. Naruto wasn't sure if it was supposed to be that color intentionally, or if it hadn't been washed in a while. Her pants were the black, cheap standard shinobi regulation pants taped into cracked and worn sandals.

Coupled with the bleeding nose and split eyebrow, she looked like a regular hood rat.

"Yeah. So?"

Geez. This girl was so defensive. "Nothing." Naruto said, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Um, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She said, brusquely. She turned away from him; a clear dismissal. "Damn it." She huffed, poking at the ruined lunch in the dirt. "That was my dinner too." She muttered something under her breath (probably profanity) and turned to walk out of the clearing.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled.

"What?!" She shouted back. She turned and glared. "What do you want?!"

"You know, when someone saves your life, you generally say thank you!" He barked.

"Saved my life? They weren't going to shank me!"

"You don't know that!" Naruto declared. "So I demand that you give me your name and your thanks."

There was a brief moment where Naruto thought she'd refuse and just walk away. Instead, she sighed. "Thanks, I guess."

As far as apologies went, it wasn't much of one. But since Naruto had never had anyone actually give him an apology when he had asked for one, he took what he could get. "Your welcome." He said. "And your name?"

Bandanna-girl rolled her eyes. "It's Sakura."

Naruto blinked. "Just Sakura?"

Sakura's face hardened. "Yeah." she said roughly.

"Uh, the 'Just Sakura' on Team 7?"

She smirked. "Yep. And if you don't hurry up, you're going to be late." In the distance, the Academy bell rang.

"What about you!" Naruto yelped.

Sakura just smirked and burst in a puff of smoke.

"Shit shit shit shit shit!" Naruto sprinted for the Acadamy, tearing through the woods to get the road. "I can't be late!"


	33. Chapter 33: Iron Will: I

"I don't like it here, Ero-sensei." Naruto muttered, awkwardly shifting in his traditional garb. He was missing his orange jumpsuit already. His knees ground awkwardly into the tatami, aching from the strain of supporting his weight. "Why do we have to wear this stuff anyway?"

"Deal with it." Jiraiya muttered back, usually serious looking in his own version of traditional haori and hakama. "In Tetsu no Kuni, you do as the samurai do. Unless you want to broadcast to the Akatsuki that a loud, orange wearing ninja is wandering around like an idiot?"

"I thought we hadda' get back to Konoha." Naruto pouted. He wriggled like a landed fish, grimacing and pulling at his collar.

"Stop moving." Jiraiya hissed, cutting his eyes across the large, partially empty room to the two samurai guards positioned on either side of the sliding doors. One of them shot Naruto a flat look that could have cured leather. Naruto let out a little 'eep', and sat ram-rod straight, a shiver running up his spine.

The door slid open with a soft clack of wood on wood. "Mifune-dono will see you now." A servant with an appropriately docile set to his shoulders knelt on the threshold.

Jiraiya nodded, and strode arrogantly past the servant. Naruto followed, nearly tripping over the hem of his pants. The door closed behind them.

"I trust we're not being overheard?" Jiraiya asked quietly.

"Of course." the man seated behind a low table said, barely looking up from his papers to acknowledge the two shinobi.

"Great." Jiraiya said tiredly, immediately relaxing into a more natural pose. He plopped down on one of the cushions provided for visitors. Naruto followed suit, his eyes bright with confusion.

"I don't know why you're here, Jiraiya-sama." The mans dark eyes flicked over the white haired sannin and giving Naruto a penetrating stare. "I thought we had a deal."

"I know, I know. Your precious neutrality." Jiraiya said. "Relax Mifune-sama. I'm not going to ruin this nice set-up you've got going on."

"Indeed." Mifune said. "But ninja say a lot of things they don't mean. It is, after all, part of why shinobi are barred from Tetsu no Kuni. Just because you are my friend doesn't mean I'll ignore you breaking the law."

Naruto tensed, his fingers itching for the kunai stowed in his obi. His chakra bubbled below his skin, tense and ready to pop off a few kage bunshin if things came to a fight, his hand tingling just in case he needed to break out a jutsu or two. The tension in the room was palpable.

"Yes it will." Jiraiya said, still perfectly unconcerned with the rising level of hostility in the room. "Because there are things out there that will rock your little world right down to it's foundations. They will come, and they will bring Tetsu no Kuni down around your ears."

"Is that a threat?" Mifune said stiffly.

"No, it's a warning." Jiraiya leaned forward, deathly serious. "And if you're smart, you'll tell me what I need to know. I'm sure we can come to some sort of trade."

"What do you want?" Mifune asked. "I know you well enough that your information will have a steep price. What is it this time? Booze? Women? Money?" He sneered.

"Not that I don't appreciate you offering me the three vices," Jiraiya smirked. "I was thinking more along the lines of training." He jerked his head toward his seated student, who had a badly concealed look of dismay on his face.

"You have got to be kidding me."

* * *

"I don't need any samurai techniques Ero-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed.

They were in the relative privacy of their room at one of the low key inns in the capital of Tetsu no Kuni. The brazier set in the center of the room kept the place warm and toasty despite the constant wail of wind and snow outside. Which, Naruto learned, was the average climate of Tetsu no Kuni. Naruto had fought in snow before, but this country was just bitterly freezing and unpleasant to be outside in. Honestly, he'd skip training altogether if it meant they could head down south where the rest of the world acknowledged spring.

"Are you saying you don't want to learn how to use a sword?" Jiraiya snorted. "I would've thought you'd be all for it."

"I mean, I know I'd look really cool." Naruto amended. "But even I know that it takes years to perfect sword technique. I don't have years!" Clones wouldn't be any help either. Muscle memory didn't work all that well with chakra constructs.

"You know that I know that." Jiraiya said. "What other applications could chakra based sword techniques have for a shinobi." He rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I think I"m wasting my time with you kid. You need to stop and think."

Naruto stopped in the process of dressing himself for bed. His back was turned to his sensei, and the older man missed the subtle fall of Naruto's shoulders. "Right." he said quietly.

"Anyway," Jiraiya continued obliviously. "I need something for you to do while I'm trying to exchange information with Mifune." He shook his shaggy hair in exasperation. "The mans pricklier and more principled than any man in power ought to be. You cannot believe how hard it is to get anything out of that guy."

"You're just going to tell him about, er, our friends, right?" Naruto glanced uneasily at the thin, flimsy walls of rice paper and decided not to name Akatsuki aloud.

Jiraiya nodded at him in approval, and Naruto beamed back. "Probably. Our information is pretty limited as it is, so I'm going to need to use some bargaining in order to get anything from him."

"I thought training was the payment." Naruto said. "Didn't you two have a totally lame pissing contest over teaching me techniques?"

"Any contest I'm in isn't 'totally lame'." Jiraiya sniffed. "Anyway, that's just the opening bid, and he knows it. By the time our discussions are over we'll have reached a compromise. In the meantime, thought..."

Naruto grumbled, his depression over Jiraiya's thoughtless comment melting away. "Right. Training. Got it."

"Now get some rest." Was it just him, or did Jiraiya seem a little too gleeful? "You're probably not going to be getting it very often in the next week."

Yep. Too gleeful.

* * *

"So you're the brat Mifune-dono wants me to teach."

Naruto gulped, staring down at the intimidating, scar riddled man in front of him. His clothing was traditional and navy blue, embossed with the crest of Tetsu no Kuni on the lapel. At his waist were two katana, the hilts worn and well taken care of. Naruto had no idea how the man wasn't freezing to death- the training area they were in was nothing more than a closed off courtyard on one of the wings of the common soldiers barracks that served as part of the general army, completely separate from the samurai quarters. There was no ceiling, and snow could fall with impunity down onto Naruto's freezing head.

Naruto hated this country.

"Yes." Naruto said.

The man snapped his fist around in an open handed strike that caught Naruto completely off-guard, knocking him to the ground. "You will address me as sir when learning the art of the sword from me, is that clear!" A vein stuck out on the side of his neck.

Naruto groaned, his eyes crossed. Wow, had the training ground always been this blurry? "Yes, sir."

"Good." His teacher crossed the dusty courtyard to the rack of weapons on the far side of the empty space. He selected two bokken and threw one at the still dizzy Naruto.

"Ack!" Naruto yelped when the hard wood buried itself in his face. "Owww..."

"What was that trainee!?" the teacher bellowed, wielding his own bokken like a baton.

"Ow, sir!"

"Better! Now do as I do and try not to break anything! Your sensei told me to do my best and, well," the man's eyes gleamed. "Shensui Otake's school of hard knocks turns out more competent swordsmen in than any fancy nobles training regimen." Otake's chest puffed out. "I've turned enough lousy soldiers into real samurai guardsmen that one little kid with an attention problem isn't going to break my record."

He made a 'come at me' gesture with his free hand, the other holding his bokken in a guard position. "Let's see if I can't beat skill into your head you little brat."

Naruto charged, swinging his bokken like a baseball bat.

"Too slow!" Otake yelled, knocking his sword away and burying his fist into Naruto's gut. The blonde flew back, spit flying out of his mouth when he tumbled into the dirt hard. He stayed down, heaving. Ugh, he felt like he was going to throw up.

"Is that all?" Otake seemed bored. "Your master was certain you'd put up more of a fight than that-"

"Shut up!" Naruto bellowed, flipping onto his feet. He brought his hands into his signature seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu- urk." Naruto choked, struggling to breath against Otake's devastating throat chop. His chakra, half formed, blew up in his face.

_Shit that hurt!_ Naruto thought, squinting through the pain. He didn't have the serious chakra burns that some ninja could get when they executed an imperfect technique, but his face still smarted. Oh, and his throat was killing him.

"No chakra!" Otake yelled, not giving him a chance to get his bearings before lashing out to rap Naruto on the knuckles with his bokken and follow up with a knee strike to the abdomen that sent Naruto sprawling. "This is kenjutsu, not ninjutsu!" He barked. "And if you want to insult me, you'd best add a sir to it unless you like broken limbs. Got it punk?"

Naruto sat up, scowling. Goddamit, this is why he didn't want to get sword training. Everyone he had ever faced who'd had a sword had been an absolute fucking psycho. Zabuza. Orochimaru. Kisame.

Apparently Otake was going to join the hated ranks of the kenjutsu users in Naruto's life.

But this was part of getting stronger. Even if he hated swordplay, this was an opportunity to learn how to defend himself against enemies who used blades. He couldn't think of anyone in Konoha he could ask, so this could be his best chance.

He had a teammate's ass to kick, after all.

"Alright _old man_," Naruto taunted, grinning at the offended look on Otake's face. "Let's get real!"

"Call me sir, dammit!" Otake yelled. "Show some respect for your sensei you little brat!"

"Respect!" Naruto laughed, picking up his bokken from where it had fallen out of his hand. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I don't respect anyone!"

And he charged.

* * *

"Oh my god I think I'm going to die." Naruto whimpered, touching his numb arm with equally bruised fingers. He grimaced, and then tried to desperately stop his face from showing emotion because doing so disturbed his blackened eyes and broken nose.

The rest of him was buried in the wonderful snow bank he'd found on his way back to the inn.

"I changed my mind." Naruto muttered. "I love snow. It's the best." He had a pretty good idea of why the samurai lived here now- free ice packs for all their bruises. Made perfect sense.

Otake-sensei had done his best to beat respect into Naruto's head during their day long training session. Along with a constant barrage of taunts, the man had quite literally pounded how to hold a sword, how to block and defend, and how to move his feet into Naruto's aching body. Kyuubi was already healing the breaks in his nose and lessening the deeper bruises. He'd be sore and tired but healed up good as new tomorrow. He was lucky- Naruto doubted that Otake let his trainees have a day off to heal and not everyone had the benefit of a major demon stuck in their guts.

Naruto took a look up at the sun, judging the time from it's angle. 5:30. He struggled out of the snow bank, using a little chakra to get him balanced on top of it like it was water. He had just enough time to get back to the room and order some food before he passed out for the night. He salivated a little at the thought of food. His lunch had been a single pathetic rice ball, not nearly enough to satisfy him after all the energy he'd been burning. He took a deep breath, already imagining a ramen stand with his name on it-

Naruto choked on the smell of rust.

He turned, looking off the path into the dim evergreen forest that dominated the landscape to his right. The trees were packed together and not the kind that was good for tree hopping, and they spread like a green skirt over the base of the Three Wolves Mountains that towered over the capital of Tetsu no Kuni.

Someone or something was dying in there.

Naruto glanced uneasily over his shoulder, back down the path toward the barracks and his teacher. Should he go get Otake-sensei? He sniffed the air, ignoring how his eyes watered with pain when he tried to use his nose. A gust of wind brought the scent of newly spilt blood- stronger this time- into his face full force.

Injuries forgotten, he sprinted into the woods. It was harder than he thought to find the source of the blood. His senses told him he was on course, but he kept having to backtrack and make his way around thickets of impassible brambles and places were the tree trunks were too close to allow passage. He felt like he was going to be too late. He could hear it now, the sound of a katana whistling through the air and the meaty thunk it made when it sank into flesh. Another thud- a body on the ground?

Naruto burst into the small clearing just in time to take in the two headless bodies half buried in the snow, blood leaking from their slit bellies as well as their necks staining the slush red. Heads with serene faces and small smiles on their faces- _W__ho smiled as they died?_ He thought, panicked. He'd never really seen dead bodies this close and with this much blood.

Naruto whirled, eyes wide and nostrils flared at the choking, overpowering stench of perforated bowels and rust. He felt like he was going to throw up. And he saw them.

It was like something out of a movie. The older man was kneeling in the snow, his azure kimono pooled around his waist, revealing his stomach and chest. He was clean of the sticky puddles of blood gathering around the corpses just to his right, his skin and clothes spotless. The man looked just like the samurai Naruto had idolized as a child, right down to the serene look in his green eyes, the determined set to his face, and the sheathed wakizashi in his hands.

Behind him, a girl stood and Naruto immediately knew that she was the one responsible for the deaths of the others. The katana in her hand was smeared from tip to hilt with dripping blood, some of it shining on her hands. Her simple brown winter yukata and headscarf were spattered with blood. The gore was concentrated mostly around her waist that suggested that they'd also been kneeling when she'd decapitated them.

"H-hey!"

Only the girl looked up. The other man looked as if he were deep in a meditative trance- or drugged, Naruto thought darkly. He wouldn't put it past someone who killed so brutally and in cold blood like this.

Their eyes met; green to blue for a second that seemed to last forever.

The moment was broken by the ringing sound of a drawn blade.

"Stop!" He yelled, and sprinted out from under the shade of the trees. He had to get there, he had to stop this-

The two moved in concert. The man placed the point of his short sword against his belly and _pushed_ in and jerked to the right- and, _oh god_, Naruto thought, _his insides are steaming in the cold air_- and the man only had time to sag forward a little, his face full of indescribably agony, before the katana in the girl's hands took his head off in a mercy blow.

There was something graceful in the way she flicked the blood off the end of her blade- something that was completely ruined when Naruto barreled into her with all the poise of a freight train. They tumbled into the snow together; heavy breaths and grunts as Naruto tried to slam her into the ground and she retaliated by awkwardly striking a few vulnerable points in Naruto's midsection with her free hand. Her sword was caught awkwardly beneath Naruto's bulk- the shinobi hissed as the point pricked his shin.

"Get off me!" she grunted, a hand scrabbling at his neck. She didn't have the leverage to choke him, but she dug her nails in-

"No!" Naruto yelled, his voice practically at her ear. She jerked in surprise at his volume, her fingers loosening their death grip on his throat. Naruto wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He wrapped his fist around her head scarf and slammed her head back onto the icy packed ground. Their struggled has displaced the thin layer of snow, revealing the hard semi-permanent frozen ground beneath. It only took about two hard knocks against the dirt for the girl's body to slacken and fall into unconsciousness. He pulled his hand away and his fingers, wrapped in the headscarf as they were, came away with it.

Huh. Pink hair.

Naruto rolled off of her, panting. The adrenaline high was wearing off, making him feel trembl-y and weak. Naruto sucked in large gulps of air- why did he feel so exhausted? Not even the fight with Gaara, which had been, hands down, the toughest fight of his life, had drained him this much.

He sat up, checking himself for injuries. He almost had a heart attack when he looked down to see the front of his training uniform smeared with blood. Naruto anxiously patted himself, and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that his skin was unbroken and the blood on his front wasn't his. He eyed the sword lying innocently in the snow, a little cleaner now that it had used his shirt front as a cleaning cloth. That much blood wasn't going to come out easy- there was no way he was going to be able to wash the stains out. It wasn't even his- it belonged to Tetsu no Kuni, Otake-sensei had exclaimed when he'd shoved the uniform at him before they'd begun trying to beat the crap out of each other. The bastard had refused to teach him when Naruto had been wearing his signature orange jumpsuit and so Naruto had no alternative but to put on the white and blue hakama of a kenjutsu novice.

Red showed up so beautifully on white.

Swaying, Naruto got to his feet. He moved to the unconscious girl and hauled her upwards. He was too tired to be embarrassed about putting his hands all over an unconscious girl- he was too busy worrying about concealed weapons. Only after he'd patted her down and was sure she was unarmed, did he swing her over his shoulder like a limp sack of potatoes.

He walked back the way he came, leaving death behind him.


	34. Chapter 34: ER: I

I was thinking kind of Grey's Anatomy.

Naruto keeps getting hurt so he can be treated by Sakura.

* * *

"You must be very accident prone Uzumaki-san." Sakura said wryly, flipping through his familiar charts.

"Ah- well, you know." Naruto shrugged, sheepishly running a hand through his hair. "I'm too excitable I guess."

"Too excitable to look both ways before crossing the street?" Sakura's tone was skeptical.

"Heheh. You got it Doc!" Naruto gave her a thumbs up, which lessened some of the tight knot that was in her chest. This was the fifth time he'd been admitted to the ER (on her shift, anyway. Who knows how many times he'd been there total) and his injuries were escalating. First a broken finger, then a mild concussion, next a gash that requires 15 stitches, a dislocated shoulder, and now he'd finally managed to break his leg.

"You're an idiot." Sakura said somewhat affectionately. She hooked his chart back onto the foot of his bed after scribbling down his vital signs and a recommendation for another dosage of morphine. His tibia was broken neatly down the middle, and any movement of the toes, foot, or leg was probably agony- it was important to keep him as still as possible and it said a lot about how hyperactive Naruto was that drugs was the easiest route.

"Ah, but you love me!" The blonde exclaimed, his blue eyes sparkling. He gestured to his IV. "You give me the good stuff, after all."

"Naruto, you can't say I love you because I give you drugs." Sakura said in exasperation. "I'm not your sugar daddy." She punctuated this statement by injecting another dose of drugs into his IV, which may have undermined her point.

"You'd be the best sugar daddy ever, though." Naruto countered, grinning. _She had used his na~aame!_

"Great." Sakura said. "If this whole surgeon thing doesn't work out, at least I have Plan B."

"Yup- er, wait! I didn't mean to say that you _would _need to quite being a doctor, cuz' I think you're great at it but just in case you get fired, or quit, or-"

"Oookay, different medication." Sakura laughed, cutting off Naruto's babble.

"Aw, but I like this stuff." Naruto pouted, even as his eyes glazed a little. He sighed, lines of pain Sakura hadn't even noticed easing from around his eyes and mouth. "Feels good." He slurred.

Sakura's smile was fond. "I'm glad you feel that way."

"Mm, Sakura-chan?" Naruto's voice was raspy with exhaustion.

"Yeah?"

"Are you gonna' be settin' my leg?" Aw, he was like a drunk little puppy.

"Nope- my friend Doctor Lee is in charge of orthopedics. He's really good at getting bones to set straight, especially leg bones. You'll be just fine." Sakura honestly had no idea why she felt like she needed to comfort a near unconscious man when he was almost stoned out of his mind on painkillers. It wasn't like he'd remember any of it.

"I wish you could do it instead..." Naruto muttered, his eyes fluttering shut. He dropped off to sleep like he was taking a step off a cliff. Hard, and fast.

"Yo, forehead!" Sakura turned, and scowled. Oh god, not _now-_

"Hey Ino-pig."

The blonde nurse flipped her ponytail, rolling her eyes. "Whatever. Anyway, is this the guy?" She pointed to the insensate Naruto.

"What 'guy'?" Sakura asked, oblivious. "He's my patient."

"Duh." Ino said impatiently. "But not a lot of guys would put themselves in the hospital 5 times to see their favorite ER doctor-"

"Wait, are you saying Naruto put _himself_ in the hospital?"

"Well, yeah. Why, is that not what's going on here?" Ino's tone was a little too innocent for Sakura's liking.

"I don't like what you're insinuating. Even Naruto's not that stupid."

"Really, Sakura? I don't care how stupid you think he is, no man that hot is that clumsy." Ino propped one hand on her hip. Her pose would have been more dramatic if her scrubs weren't wrinkled and her hair wasn't mussed from pushing it back out of her face all day.

"You've obviously been stealing drugs from the crash carts, because there is no way Naruto likes me." Sakura said resolutely. She checking his chart one more time before she started her rounds again.

Ino tagged along, because she had a hard time understanding the concept of _dramatic exits_.

"There's no way he's been in here 5 times in two months without a good reason. Why can't that good reason be that he's fallen in love with his 'precious Sakura-chan'?"

Sakura rolled her eyes so hard she's surprised she didn't go blind. "Naruto works Special Ops for the government. So no, it doesn't surprise me that he has a few bumps and bruises."

"When did he tell you that?" Ino's eyes are huge. "I thought that kind of thing was 'I'll tell you but then I'd have to kill you'."

The pink haired doctor shrugged. "He was getting prepped for surgery and he just started babbling at me. You know how it is. Anyway, I've gotta go. Tsunade is going to perform a surgery this afternoon and she invited me to scrub in with her."

"Isn't this her first surgery in like, twelve years or something?"

"More like twenty. I can't miss it. Call you later?"

Ino scoffed. "You better forehead-girl." She waved her friend off and watched, slightly bemused, as her friend bumbled her way down the hallway in her haste to get to the surgery wing of the hospital.

She cut her eyes toward the sleeping Naruto and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw that Naruto's eyes were opened to slits.

"How much of that did you hear?" Ino asked, resigned.

Naruto shrugged. "Only a little."

"Enough?" Ino asked hopefully. God, if Sakura managed to keep this guy, maybe all her weird angst over her medical school drop-out boyfriend would go away and Sakura could be a well-adjusted person instead of freaking bipolar.

"Oh yeah."


End file.
